dropdownlist value****resolved******

I am trying to get the text value of what a user selects from a drop-down box and no matter how many different ways i try it always returns '1'. Am i missing a step.
1. load dropdownlist from DB
2user clicks selection
3.user clicks button
4. i grab ddl.SelectedItem.Value
the value (or .text) always is the first value in the list

Hope this makes any sense

Each time i step through, no matter which dropdown item i click on the selectedindex still equals zero

should've read further down the page, question posted just before this
Problem was i was binding even on postback