# Drop down String

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/drop-down-string/3072>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [July 8, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/drop-down-string/3072 "2011-07-08T14:15:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![k\_breath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@k\_breath](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/k_breath)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/drop-down-string/3072/1 "2011-07-08T14:15:40Z")

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I am trying to connect to a drop down input. The items I am trying to reference are strings. This is the code I used to set variables equal to the selected input.

itemValue = event.source.parent.getComponent(‘Blender\_TBL’).data

When I call the variable I get the following error:

ValueError invalid literal for\_int\_: Store

thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Travis.Cox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Travis.Cox](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Travis.Cox)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/drop-down-string/3072/2 "2011-07-08T14:48:05Z")

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If you are referencing a drop down component then you want to reference the selectedStringValue or selectedValue properties. Something like:`itemValue = event.source.parent.getComponent("Dropdown").selectedStringValue`

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![k\_breath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@k\_breath](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/k_breath)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/drop-down-string/3072/3 "2011-07-08T17:43:37Z")

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When I was calling my variable I used %d instead of %s