how to fill dropdown list from extra huge datatable?

Question

i have table from database this table has 400000 row in my asp page my dropdown list(ddlPlaintiffName) fill from this method


 private void FillPlaintiff()
    {

        //declare connection by pass connection string from web.config
        SqlConnection sqlcon = new SqlConnection
            (ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["SystemConn"].ConnectionString);
        //declare sql statment  as astring variable

        SqlCommand sqlcom = new SqlCommand();
        sqlcom.Connection = sqlcon;
        sqlcom.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
        sqlcom.CommandText = "proc_SelectPlaintiff";



        DataTable ds = new DataTable();
        //fill data set with data adabter that contain data from database
     //   sad.Fill(ds);
        sqlcon.Open();
         SqlDataAdapter sad = new SqlDataAdapter(sqlcom);

         sad.Fill(ds);

        ddlPlaintiffName.DataSource = ds;
        ddlPlaintiffName.DataBind();
        ddlPlaintiffName.Items.Insert(0, "--select  --");
        sqlcon.Close();

    }

but every postback my load is very very slow how can i avoid this

I would suggest that you should rethink your UI and instead of a dropdown have an auto-complete/search option. Even a few hunderd options is bad UI for a dropdown. — Oded
@Oded perfectly said- this is totally not a technical Problem to start with, as a solution to this Problem (answer to this question) results in a non-functional UI. — TomTom

Jomy John Jomy John · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-14T11:37:42

First of all you should not use such a big table for dropdown list. Since user can't find value easily , there is no use for him. You should provide some kind of search and based on search criteria, though ajax, data should show in dropdown list. Search should start only when user put three or more characters, Else your ajax based query also become slow.

Please refer the following page to get an idea

jQuery Searchable DropDown Plugin Demo

how to fill dropdown list from extra huge datatable?

3 Answers