In the following example we use the SqlDataReader.GetString() method and the SqlDataReader.GetInt16() method to retrieve the fields of the job_desc and job_id columns in appropriate data types without performing any data type conversion operations. The GetString() method returns the field as a string value and the GetInt16() method returns the field as a short value, as in the following example.

 protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
 

  if (!IsPostBack)

{

  try

{

using (SqlConnection connection = new SqlConnection
(connectionString))

{

  string commandText = "SELECT job_id, job_desc FROM Jobs";

   SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(commandText, connection);

    connection.Open();

     using (SqlDataReader dataReader = command.ExecuteReader())

{

   while (dataReader.Read())

{

string jobDesc = dataReader.GetString(dataReader.GetOrdinal
("job_desc"));

short jobId = dataReader.GetInt16(dataReader.GetOrdinal
("job_id"));

  ListItem item = new ListItem();

   item.Text = jobDesc;

   item.Value = jobId.ToString();

  DropDownList1.Items.Add(item);

    }

  }

 }

}

  catch (Exception ex)

{

  Response.Write(ex.Message);

 }

}

Label1.Text = "The list item " + DropDownList1.SelectedItem + "
has value of " +

  DropDownList1.SelectedValue;

}

We simply declared a string variable, the jobDesc variable, and a short variable called jobId, and assigned the values of the fields that we got from the SqlDataReader object to them without making any data type conversion operations. Note that we called the jobId.ToString() method to assign value to the ListItem.Value property because it accepts a string value. So if you know that you are retrieving a string value, use the GetString() method; if you know that you are retrieving a BIT data type from SQL Server table, use the GetBoolean() and so on.