connect list to database

Question

I have customer list in sharepoint 2010 site with a column name company.

In the new item form of the customer i need dropdown list with the name of companies. The thing is i need to fetch this list of companies from database and display in dropdown list.

I know this the possible if i create a web part in visual studio but in that case i need to deploy a new list with all data to be added again ie lots of rework .

i want to avoid it . Pls suggest...

Answer 1

If you need exactly drop down, then you can create external list and add lookup for external list to the customers list.

Another way - create external datasource and add external datacolumn to customers list. At this point you will have entity piecker (seem to the user piecker) to choose value.