C#: Set Dictionary as a data source for Drop Down List

There are situations when you need to create a list of key pair values after fetching data from the database and attach them to some Web Controls on your web page. Unlike Windows Application where you can attach whole Data List of Class to the control and the controller will act as a container, Web Controls do not support the same way. Either you need to create a new class with two properties; one for Key and second for Value part.

In this case, you can go for using Disctionary<T key, T value>, T can be used as any datatype with standard .Net datatype. You can go through the loop and create a new Dictionary object and assign the Dictionary object to the web control. And set DataTextField to Key and DataValueField to Value.

Dictionary<string, string> list = new Dictionary<string, string>();
list.Add("item 1", "Item 1");
list.Add("item 2", "Item 2");
list.Add("item 3", "Item 3");
list.Add("item 4", "Item 4");

dropDownList.DataSource = list;
dropDownList.DataTextField = "Value";
dropDownList.DataValueField = "Key";
dropDownList.DataBind();