getting the value of a DropDownList item for updating?

[bang head here]

I can't believe I'm having this much trouble moving into .NET. Anyway, I'm getting a Cast error when reading in the text of a selected item when updating a record in a DataGrid.

 

Dim ContainerName As String = e.Item.Cells(2).Controls(0).DropDrownList.SelectedItem.Text

 

That's the most recent look of what I've tried to do. I think I've tried about every combination to get the value into a variable with no luck at all. There is a value for this item, so I just need to dump it into a string. I know it's not hard and I'm just having the "newbie blues" with .NET right now.

 

Regards.

[bang head here]

Even this won't work:

 

Dim TempList As DropDownList

Dim TempValue As String

 

TempList = E.Item.FindControl("selContainerName")

TempValue = TempList.SelectedItem.Value

 

The selContainer name is being created when editing the grid, but I get an "Object reference not set to an instance of an object" error when I try to pull the value.

 

Any thoughts? Thanks!