Populate dropdown from SharePoint List using C#

In this post,  we’ll show How to programmatically populate dropdown from SharePoint List using C#?

You might also like to read Show / Hide fields based on choice field selection using JQuery in SharePoint 2016.

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Consider, you have a city list in SharePoint, you need to retrieve a specific field value to a Dropdown list in Visual Web Part in C#.

Retrieve specific field value from SharePoint List to dropdown list in C#

Let’s define the dropdown list in front code as the following:

<asp:DropDownList ID="dlCountry" runat="server" AutoPostBack="true">
</asp:DropDownList>

Now, we are gonna create a function to bind a specific field to a dropdown list as shown below

public void BindCountry() {
 using(SPSite site = new SPSite(SPContext.Current.Site.Url)) {
  using(SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb()) {
   SPList list = web.Lists["Country"];
   DataTable dt = list.Items.GetDataTable();
   dlCountry.DataSource = dt;
   dlCountry.DataTextField = "Title";
   dlCountry.DataValueField = "ID";
   dlCountry.DataBind();
  }
 }
}

Get a specific field into a dropdown list based on CAML Query in C#

In case, you are using CAML query to retrieve your list item collection, you can use the below code:

public void BindCountry() {
 using(SPSite site = new SPSite(SPContext.Current.Site.Url)) {
  using(SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb()) {
   SPList list = web.Lists["Country"];
   SPQuery query = new SPQuery();
   query.Query = "<View><ViewFields><FieldRef Name='Title'/></ViewFields></View>"; 
       SPListItemCollection Items = list.GetItems(query);
       foreach (SPListItem Item in Items)
          {
              dlCountry.Items.Add(new ListItem(Item.Title));
          }
  }
 }
}

The above code is working for CheckBox List as well, you just need to set the control name at “dlCountry.Items.Add”

Bind Field in SharePoint List to a dropdown list

Finally, call the “BIND()” function In Page_Load as shown below

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {
 if (!IsPostBack)
  BindCountry();
}

You might also like to read Work with SharePoint Lookup Field Programmatically

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Conclusion

In conclusion, we have learned how to Populate dropdown from SharePoint List using C# as well as how to Get a specific SharePoint field into a dropdown list based on CAML Query in C#.

Applies To

• SharePoint 2016.
• SharePoint 2013.
• SharePoint 2010.
• C# SSOM.

You may also like to read

• Get and Set a SharePoint URL Field Value Using Server Object Model C#.
• Get and Set a SharePoint Multiple Choice Field Value Using Server Object Model C#.
• Get and Set a SharePoint Multiple Lookup Field Value Using Server Object Model C#.

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