how to set the value of a dropdown to its default on pageload

Page has Repeater Control displays students records, when click on any record it displays total info. it has dropdown list displays list of all departments [ not static items ] comes from

db.<asp:DropDownList ID="ddl_name" runat="server" DataSourceID="Employee" DataMember="Technical"
                                        DataTextField="Last_name" 
                                        DataValueField="Emp_code"
                                        FirstItemText="Se开发者_运维技巧lect Item" 
                                        FirstItemValue="0"
                                        BoundColumnName="LastName"
                                        BoundDataMember="DeptCode"
                                        Clear="true"
                                        /> Thanks...

by default it should display the first item..and when the user selects a department and save it, the page reloads and again it should show the default value.

You can do it via DropDownList.SelectedIndex property:

ddl.SelectedIndex = 0;

But I would recommend using Post-Redirect-Get instead and after a redirect-get you will have your dropdown set to default.

You may also try storing selected value in a variable or Session[""]