Question Dropdownlist problem

[Coffer]

Hello!
I have a panel that is viewable if certain conditions are met. Inside this panel I have a dropdownlist that is dynamically populated with information and a submit-button. When I hit the submit, it's supposed to - among other things - grab a selected value from the dropdownlist and insert it into a database. Unfortunately it seems as if the selection is empty all the time.

I try to catch the selected value this way:

Dim ddl As DropDownList = DirectCast(RouteSettings.FindControl("NumberOfPlanesList"), DropDownList)

(RouteSettings is the ID of the panel).

I then try either of these arguments, that returns the following errors:

Dim selectedValue As Integer = CInt(ddl.SelectedItem.Value)

returns the error

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

.

Dim selectedValue As Integer = CInt(ddl.SelectedValue)

returns the error

System.FormatException: Input string was not in a correct format.

.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[kulrom]

I just made a test and it worked for me:

Dim ddl As DropDownList = CType(RouteSettings.FindControl("NumberOfPlanesList"), DropDownList)
Response.Write(ddl.SelectedItem.Value)

Could you please post the panel and dropdown list code (HTML) ?