title: binding a dropdownlist to a database
body: <p>I want to bind a dropdownlist to a database. I did the following coding but it isn't  working.</p>
  
  <pre><code>using System;
  using System.Configuration;
  using System.Data;
  using System.Linq;
  using System.Web;
  using System.Web.Security;
  using System.Web.UI;
  using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
  using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
  using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
  using System.Xml.Linq;
  using System.Data.Odbc;
  using System.Data.SqlClient;
  
  public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page 
  {
      protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
      {
          if (!IsPostBack)
          {
  
              rebind();
  
          }
      }
  
      public void rebind()
      {
  
          try
          {
         OdbcConnection myConn = new OdbcConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["myconn"].ConnectionString);     
         string sql = "select casename,casecode from casetype";
         myConn.Open();
         OdbcCommand cmd = new OdbcCommand(sql, myConn);
         OdbcDataReader MyReader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
                      {
                          DropDownList3.DataSource= sql;
                          DropDownList3.DataTextField = "casename";
                          DropDownList3.DataValueField = "casetype";
                          DropDownList3.DataBind();
                      }
                  }
  
          catch (Exception ex)
          {
  
              Response.Write(ex.StackTrace);
  
          }   
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I am getting the error as</p>
  
  <pre><code>at _Default.rebind() in c:\Documents and Settings\a\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\WebSites\toolbar1\Default.aspx.cs:line 32 
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Please help me to solve my problem and bind the dropdownlist to a datasource.I want my dropdownlist to display text from a database column and use the value field for some other purpose later on in code. I am getting the page displayed when i run the project but not able to get the data in dropdownlist</p>