c# - problem with drop down list -

i have drop down list control populated items , code take selected item value. problem value of first item in list regardless of item selected.

here code populate drop down:

protected void displaycreatecategories() {     storedatacontext db = new storedatacontext();     var = c in db.categories                     orderby c.name                     select new{catname= c.name,                         catid=c.categoryid};      ddlcategory.datasource = a;     ddlcategory.datatextfield = "catname";     ddlcategory.datavaluefield = "catid";     ddlcategory.databind();    } 

to value of selected item in case of type integer label1.text=convert.toint32(ddlcategory.selectedvalue);

selected value, 1st item in list. i'm pulling hair out on this. :(

i suspect you're running list loading code every time page loads, destroying list, repopulating list, , auto-selecting first item before selection retrieval code gets run.

use construction in page_load:

if (!ispostback) {     // initial control population goes here }