Asp.net - Add blank item at top of dropdownlist

After your databind:

drpList.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem(String.Empty, String.Empty));
drpList.SelectedIndex = 0;

The databinding takes place after you've added your blank list item, and it replaces what's there already, you need to add the blank item to the beginning of the List from your controller, or add it after databinding.

EDIT:

After googling this quickly as of ASP.Net 2.0 there's an "AppendDataBoundItems" true property that you can set to...append the databound items.

for details see

http://imar.spaanjaars.com/QuickDocId.aspx?quickdoc=281 or

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.listcontrol.appenddatabounditems.aspx

You can use AppendDataBoundItems=true to easily add:

<asp:DropDownList ID="drpList" AppendDataBoundItems="true" runat="server">
    <asp:ListItem Text="" Value="" />
</asp:DropDownList>