DropDownList SelectedIndexChanged not firing

I have an issue with a DDL where my SelectedIndexChanged only gets fired when the second list item is selected (there are only 2 items in the list). The first item in the list is the default item and is set to selected. Also the list items are not bound via a datasource, they are already populated.

The DDL is wired up to the UpdatePanel as a Trigger. The DDL is also located outside the UpdatePanel - I tried having the DDL inside the UpdatePanel as well but the same issue comes up.

The Update does occur because I verified that the Page_Load fires when I switch between the two DDL items.

Any ideas?

The trick to this is to insert another record as the default selection of the DDL. I always insert a ListItem at run-time right after I bind the records to the DDL that tells the user to make a selection, for example 'Select State'. This solves two problems, it helps guide the user (let's face they need all the help they can get) and will force the selectedindexchanged event to fire like you want.

ddlState.Items.Insert(0,New ListItem("Select a State", 0))

Here is a Blog entry I made on the topic:

http://professionalaspnet.com/archive/2007/12/22/Cures-for-the-Common-Ailments-_2D00_-DropDownList.aspx

I was hoping that wasn't the fix but I guess I'll just have to work with it.

Thanks!

Have you set the property named "ChildrenAsTriggers" of the UpdatePanel to true?