Dim conn As Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection = New Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection("server=(local);database=pubs;trusted_connection=SSPI") Dim ds As DataSet = New DataSet Dim da As Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter = New SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter("SELECT * FROM authors", conn) conn.Open() da.Fill(ds) conn.Close() DropDownList1.DataSource = ds.Tables(0).Columns DropDownList1.DataBind()