>>Hi,
>>
>>I'm trying to add/edit some data in a GridView and need to access the SelectedValue of a drop downlist that is in the grid.
>>
>>My code is this:
>>
>>

GridViewRow gvRow = this.grdPhones.Rows[e.RowIndex];
>>Guid PhoneType = new Guid(((DropDownList)(gvRow.Cells[1].Controls[0])).SelectedValue.ToString());

>>
>>And the error I get is this:
>>
>>System.InvalidCastException was unhandled by user code
>> Message="Unable to cast object of type 'System.Web.UI.LiteralControl' to type 'System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList'."
>> Source="SamaanSystems.IAS.Web"
>> StackTrace:
>> at SamaanSystems.IAS.Web.ClientEdit.grdPhones_RowUpdating(Object sender, GridViewUpdateEventArgs e) in C:\Development\Mere Mortals .NET Framework 2008\SamaanSystems\IAS.Web\ClientEdit.aspx.cs:line 528
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.OnRowUpdating(GridViewUpdateEventArgs e)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.HandleUpdate(GridViewRow row, Int32 rowIndex, Boolean causesValidation)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.HandleEvent(EventArgs e, Boolean causesValidation, String validationGroup)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridView.OnBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs e)
>> at OakLeaf.MM.Main.Web.UI.WebControls.mmGridView.OnBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs e)
>> at System.Web.UI.Control.RaiseBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs args)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.GridViewRow.OnBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs e)
>> at System.Web.UI.Control.RaiseBubbleEvent(Object source, EventArgs args)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.OnCommand(CommandEventArgs e)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)
>> at System.Web.UI.WebControls.LinkButton.System.Web.UI.IPostBackEventHandler.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)
>> at System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument)
>> at System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(NameValueCollection postData)
>> at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
>> InnerException:
>>
>>This shouldn't be so hard :(
>
>The line looks right (there's an unneccessary pair of brackets - but no harm in that). The obvious implication is that 'gvRow.Cells[1].Controls[0]' is not actually a DropDownList ?

Thanks Viv!

the obvious was not so obvious at the end of a long day fighting with .NET :) The dropdownlist was in Controls[1].

Is there a better or more generic way to find the column which is bound to a particular field in a dataset and then find the drop down list value? I hate hard coding in column and cell numbers.