Dim str As String = "data source=(local);" _
                    & "initial catalog=av;uid=sa;pwd=sa;"
Dim con As SqlConnection = New SqlConnection(str)
con.Open()

Dim ds As New DataSet
Dim da As SqlDataAdapter

Dim strSql As String = "Select * from tabTest"
da = New SqlDataAdapter(strSql, con)
da.Fill(ds)

// ddl is the name of the dropdown list.
ddl.Datasoucre = ds.Tables(0)
ddl.DataTextField = "Name"
ddl.DataValueField = "id"
ddl.DataBind()