Getting/Setting Select Box in Literal from ASP.Net Code-Behind

I have the below code that gets added to a literal in my form. How in the code behind to I grab get/set the data from the select = name="populationSelect"....?

 protected void PopulatePopulation()
{
    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
    StringBuilder sql = new StringBuilder(开发者_高级运维);

    // Define sql
    sql.Append("SELECT pid, population ");
    sql.Append("FROM populations ");
    sql.Append("ORDER BY pid ASC ");

    using (IDataReader reader = SqlHelper.GetDataReader(sql.ToString()))
    {
        sb.AppendLine("<div class=\"narrowRes\">Poulation</div><select name=\"populationSelect\" class=\"narrowResSelect\"><option value=\"0\">All populations</option>");

        while (reader.Read())
        {
            int pid = reader.IsDBNull(0) ? -1 : reader.GetInt32(0);
            string population = reader.IsDBNull(1) ? string.Empty : reader.GetString(1);

            population = population.Trim();

            sb.AppendLine(string.Format("<option value=\"{0}\">{1}</option>", pid, population));
        }
    }

    sb.AppendLine("</select>");

    ltrlExplorePopulation.Text = sb.ToString();
}

Not easily. Since you're using a literal instead of an asp.net control (like a drop down list), asp.net does not create a control for you to use in the code behind.

That being said you should be able to access the value through the Request parameters.

var value = Request["populationSelect"];

A better solution would be to create a dropdownlist control on the page and databind to it.

if (!IsPostBack)
{
    List<ListItem> data = new List<ListItem>();
    using (IDataReader reader = SqlHelper.GetDataReader(sql.ToString()))
    {
        //sb.AppendLine("<div class=\"narrowRes\">Poulation</div><select name=\"populationSelect\" class=\"narrowResSelect\"><option value=\"0\">All populations</option>");

        while (reader.Read())
        {
            int pid = reader.IsDBNull(0) ? -1 : reader.GetInt32(0);
            string population = reader.IsDBNull(1) ? string.Empty : reader.GetString(1);

            population = population.Trim();
            data.Add(new ListItem(population, pid.ToString()));
            //sb.AppendLine(string.Format("<option value=\"{0}\">{1}</option>", pid, population));
        }
    }
    DropDownList1.DataSource = data;
    DropDownList1.DataBind();
}