I know this is probably a basic question, but I'm stuck and can't seem to figure it out :-/
This is in VB.NET 2005 and I'm making a windows forms app. I'm filling a DataTable from a SQL command, and then binding a dropdownlist to that DataTable. I'm assigning the DisplayMember and ValueMember just fine, and the dropdownlist is working fine. But what I want to do is after binding it, add a "blank" choice (or some other text like "please choose something" to the first slot, and default to that being selected when the app runs. I know it's simple, I'm just blanking out here. Thanks!
Here's the code for what I'm doing:
Private Sub BindAccounts()
Dim conn As New SqlConnection()
Dim myCommand As New SqlCommand
Dim da As New SqlDataAdapter
Dim myData As New DataTable
Dim SQL As String
Dim sSQL As String
SQL = "server=" & My.Settings.DataSource & ";" _
& "user id=" & Login.txtUserName.Text & ";" _
& "password=" & Login.txtPassword.Text & ";" _
& "database=" & My.Settings.InitialCatalog
conn.ConnectionString = SQL
sSQL = "select distinct lngAccountID_pk, strAccountName"
sSQL = sSQL & " from tblAccounts"
sSQL = sSQL & " where lngAccountID_pk in (select accountid from tblstaging)"
sSQL = sSQL & " order by strAccountName"
Try
conn.Open()
Try
myCommand.Connection = conn
myCommand.CommandText = sSQL
myCommand.CommandType = CommandType.Text
da.SelectCommand = myCommand
da.Fill(myData)
ddlAccount.DataSource = myData
ddlAccount.DisplayMember = "strAccountName"
ddlAccount.ValueMember = "lngAccountID_pk"
Catch myerror As SqlException
MsgBox("There was an error reading from the database: "
& myerror.Message)
End Try
ddlAccount.SelectedIndex = 0
conn.Close()
Catch myerror As SqlException
MessageBox.Show("Error Connecting to Database: " &
myerror.Message)
conn.Dispose()
End Try
End Sub