why is it that

string submenuList = ((DropDownList)SubMenuGrid.Rows[e.RowIndex].Controls[e.RowIndex].FindControl("menuContainerList")).SelectedItem.Value;

 Produces an object reference error... 

I populated the control using... this code

  
   DataTable menuContainers = BrochureAccess.getContainerMenus();
       for (int i = 0; i < menuContainers.Rows.Count; i++)
       {
         ((DropDownList)SubMenuGrid.Rows[e.NewEditIndex].FindControl("menuContainerList")).Items.Add(new ListItem(menuContainers.Rows[i]["menu_TITLE"].ToString(), menuContainers.Rows[i]["menu_ID"].ToString()));                          
       }

If i hardcoded the list in .aspx everything goes fine... but I need to populate the dropdown list from database ...

could somebody help me.... 

Hello,

When are you populating and when are you accessing the DropDownList?  When you specify the list statically in the aspx, the ASP.Net Framework engine takes care of making sure those items are available when you need to reference them.  But when you are adding entires to the DropDownList programmatically, the order of events is important.

Another option that comes to mind would be to let aspx do the work by using an ObjectDataSource: 

<asp:ObjectDataSource ID="BrochureData" runat="server"
    TypeName="BrochureAccess" SelectMethod="getContainerMenus">
</asp:ObjectDataSource>

<asp:DropDownList ID="BrochureDropDown" runat="server"
    DataSourceID="BrochureData" DataTextField ="menu_TITLE"
    DataValueField="menu_ID"></asp:DropDownList>

Then you don't have to worry about any event ordering or object reference issues from the DropDownList.

Cheers,

~ mellamokb