It would be very useful if the GridDropDownColumn had some way of accessing the database value of the control when not in edit mode. It is very roundabout to have to add more controls or hidden fields just to access data that was already pulled from the database. Some kind of function that could get the value which corresponds to the shown text would be exceptionally useful.
You can access the original row of your table using the DataItem property of each GridDataItem. See this help topic for more information. http://docs.telerik.com/devtools/aspnet-ajax/controls/grid/rows/accessing-cells-and-rows If you have further questions ask in our forums or submit support ticket.