Protected Sub ContactsListView_ItemDataBound(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ListViewItemEventArgs) 

  'Verify there is an item being edited.
  If ContactsListView.EditIndex >= 0 Then

    'Get the item object.
    Dim dataItem As ListViewDataItem = CType(e.Item, ListViewDataItem)

    ' Check for an item in edit mode.
    If dataItem.DisplayIndex = ContactsListView.EditIndex Then

      ' Preselect the DropDownList control with the Title value
      ' for the current item.
      ' Retrieve the underlying data item. In this example
      ' the underlying data item is a DataRowView object.        
      Dim rowView As DataRowView = CType(dataItem.DataItem, DataRowView)

      ' Retrieve the Title value for the current item. 
      Dim title As String = rowView("Title").ToString()

      ' Retrieve the DropDownList control from the current row. 
      Dim list As DropDownList = CType(dataItem.FindControl("TitlesList"), DropDownList)

      ' Find the ListItem object in the DropDownList control with the 
      ' title value and select the item.
      Dim item As ListItem = list.Items.FindByText(title)
      list.SelectedIndex = list.Items.IndexOf(item)
    End If 
  End If

End Sub

protected void ContactsListView_ItemDataBound(object sender, ListViewItemEventArgs e)
{

  //Verify there is an item being edited.
  if (ContactsListView.EditIndex >= 0)
  {

    //Get the item object.
    ListViewDataItem dataItem = (ListViewDataItem)e.Item;

    // Check for an item in edit mode.
    if (dataItem.DisplayIndex == ContactsListView.EditIndex)
    {

      // Preselect the DropDownList control with the Title value
      // for the current item.

      // Retrieve the underlying data item. In this example
      // the underlying data item is a DataRowView object.        
      DataRowView rowView = (DataRowView)dataItem.DataItem;

      // Retrieve the Title value for the current item. 
      String title = rowView["Title"].ToString();

      // Retrieve the DropDownList control from the current row. 
      DropDownList list = (DropDownList)dataItem.FindControl("TitlesList");

      // Find the ListItem object in the DropDownList control with the 
      // title value and select the item.
      ListItem item = list.Items.FindByText(title);
      list.SelectedIndex = list.Items.IndexOf(item);

    }
  }
}