# Binding to Asp DataSource components
**RadDropDownList** supports binding to all ASP.NET 2.0 DataSource components, including:
* SqlDataSource
* LinqDataSource
* EntityDataSource
* ObjectDataSource
* XmlDataSource
To bind to a DataSource component, all you need to do is set the **DataSourceID** property of RadDropDownList to the ID of the DataSource component. You should also set the **DataTextField** and **DataValueField** properties of RadDropDownList to map the **Text** and **Value** properties of the items to the respective columns / fields from the data source.
If you need to map additional columns from the data source to properties of RadDropDownList items, you can use the **ItemDataBound** event. The event arguments passed to the event, **e.Item** and **e.Item.DataItem**, hold the instance of RadDropDownList item being bound and the **DataItem** to which it is bound. You can map a property from the **DataItem** to the corresponding property of RadDropDownList item. Be sure to cast the **DataItem** object to the proper data type first.
```C#
protected void RadDropDownList1_ItemDataBound(object o, DropDownListItemEventArgs e)
{
DataRowView dataSourceRow = (DataRowView)e.Item.DataItem;
e.Item.Enabled = (bool)dataSourceRow["Enabled"];
e.Item.Attributes["customAttribute"] = dataSourceRow["CustomAttribute"].ToString();
}
```
```VB
Protected Sub RadDropDownList1_ItemDataBound(o As Object, e As DropDownListItemEventArgs)
Dim dataSourceRow As DataRowView = DirectCast(e.Item.DataItem, DataRowView)
e.Item.Enabled = CBool(dataSourceRow("Enabled"))
e.Item.Attributes("customAttribute") = dataSourceRow("CustomAttribute").ToString()
End Sub
```
## SqlDataSource
```ASP.NET
```
## LinqDataSource
```ASP.NET
```
## EntityDataSource
```ASP.NET
```
## ObjectDataSource
```ASP.NET
```
```C#
public class DropDownListDataObject
{
public DropDownListDataObject() { }
public static List GetItems()
{
List itemsList = new List();
itemsList.Add(new DropDownListDataItem(1, "item 1"));
itemsList.Add(new DropDownListDataItem(2, "item 2"));
itemsList.Add(new DropDownListDataItem(3, "item 3"));
return itemsList;
}
public class DropDownListDataItem
{
private string _text;
private int _id;
public string Text
{
get
{
return _text;
}
set
{
_text = value;
}
}
public int ID
{
get
{
return _id;
}
set
{
_id = value;
}
}
public DropDownListDataItem(int id, string text)
{
_id = id;
_text = text;
}
}
}
```
```VB
Public Class DropDownListDataObject
Public Sub New()
End Sub
Public Shared Function GetItems() As List(Of DropDownListDataItem)
Dim itemsList As New List(Of DropDownListDataItem)()
itemsList.Add(New DropDownListDataItem(1, "item 1"))
itemsList.Add(New DropDownListDataItem(2, "item 2"))
itemsList.Add(New DropDownListDataItem(3, "item 3"))
Return itemsList
End Function
Public Class DropDownListDataItem
Private _text As String
Private _id As Integer
Public Property Text() As String
Get
Return _text
End Get
Set(value As String)
_text = value
End Set
End Property
Public Property ID() As Integer
Get
Return _id
End Get
Set(value As Integer)
_id = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub New(id As Integer, text As String)
_id = id
_text = text
End Sub
End Class
End Class
```
## XmlDataSource
```ASP.NET
```
When using an **XmlDataSource**, the XML file should have the format shown below:
```XML