How to select an Item from asp:Dropdownlist on Page load from Code Behind C#?

Question

I tried so many articles around, like below to get my task done, but didn't work as I always ends up with an NullReferenceException, I have bound a database table column to the Dropdown list, on page load i want to select an item based on the value from database which is one of those listed items. Please help me.

txt_examtype.DataSource = dt;//txt_examtype is the dropdownlist
                txt_examtype.DataTextField = "ExamTypeName";
                txt_examtype.DataValueField = "ExamTypeName";
                txt_examtype.DataBind();


String examtype = dt.Rows[0]["ExamType"].ToString().Trim();
                ListItem myitem = txt_examtype.Items.FindByValue(examtype);
                txt_examtype.SelectedValue = myitem.Value;

Answer 1

try this code

 txt_examtype.SelectedValue =  dt.Rows[0]["ExamType"].ToString()

Answer 2

You should set SelectedIndex instead of SelectedValue. This is safe to use:

txt_examtype.SelectedIndex = txt_examtype.Items.IndexOf(txt_examtype.Items.FindByValue(examtype));