Best way to check if a drop down list contains a value?

Question

When the user navigates to a new page, this ddl's selected index is determined by a cookie, but if the ddl doesn't contain that cookie's value, then I'd like it to be set the 0. What method would I use for the ddl? Is a loop the best way, or is there a simply if statement I can perform?

This is what I've attempted, but it doesn't return a bool.

if ( !ddlCustomerNumber.Items.FindByText( GetCustomerNumberCookie().ToString() ) )     ddlCustomerNumber.SelectedIndex = 0; 

Answer 1

There are two methods that come to mind:

You could use Contains like so:

if (ddlCustomerNumber.Items.Contains(new      ListItem(GetCustomerNumberCookie().ToString()))) {     // ... code here } 

or modifying your current strategy:

if (ddlCustomerNumber.Items.FindByText(     GetCustomerNumberCookie().ToString()) != null) {     // ... code here } 

EDIT: There's also a DropDownList.Items.FindByValue that works the same way as FindByText, except it searches based on values instead.

Answer 2

That will return an item. Simply change to:

if (ddlCustomerNumber.Items.FindByText( GetCustomerNumberCookie().ToString()) != null)     ddlCustomerNumber.SelectedIndex = 0;