How to get the selected value in a DropDownList in the Object Type (not string)?

I fill up a List<> with an object that has properties. I can bind to the DropDownList without any problem:

     cbo.DataSource = possibleChoice;
     cbo.DataValueField = "Value";
     cbo.DataTextField = "Display";
     cb开发者_StackOverflow社区o.DataBind();

But I can't find a way to get the Value. I know the DropDownList has SelectedValue but it return a String instead of my type of object...

     MyObjectType myObj = (MyObjectType)this.cbo.SelectedValue;//Err! Return a String

How can I get the object from the DropDownList?

I think you should be able to do the following

MyObjectType myObj = (MyObjectType)this.cboTimeArea.SelectedItem.Value;

But if not, the following will work

MyObjectType myObj = possibleChoice[this.cboTimeArea.SelectedIndex];

I typically store a string representation of the ID as the SelectedValue, then grab the object from a data store (Cache, Session data, database, ViewState, etc.--whatever is appropriate) on postback, i.e. after you reconstitute your possiblechoices.

The DropDownList doesn't store the objects you databind to it.

It's best to specify DataValueField as the ID of the object, then you can do something like this:

 cbo.DataSource = possibleChoice;
 cbo.DataValueField = "Id";
 cbo.DataTextField = "Display";
 cbo.DataBind();

 var userChoice = possibleChoice
                      .Where(x => x.Id == Convert.ToInt(cbo.SelectedValue));