POULATE THE FKCEDITOR USING A DROPDOWNLIST

Easiest way would be to write a plugin. This method will also give you greater control over its behaviour.

I say 'easy' but it can actually be quite tricky. I did it this way:

When your 'editing' page loads, use JavaScript to create an array containing the data that you wish to put into your dropdown list - call this 'arrComboItems' or something similar.

Create a new FCKeditor plugin which creates the actual dropdown and injects its content into your editing area.

Add your dropdown plugin to FCKeditor's toolbar.

Here's the plugin code. It should be saved in a file called 'fckplugin.js' and placed in its own folder called 'injectdropdowndata' or similar, which itself should reside inside 'fckeditor/editor/plugins'.

//FCKMyDropDown 'command'
   var FCKMyDropDown = function(name) { 
      this.Name = name ; 
   } 
   
   //This get's executed when an item from the dropdown list gets selected
   FCKMyDropDown.prototype.Execute = function(itemID, item) {  
       if (itemID != "")
          FCK.InsertHtml(item.innerHTML);
   }
   
   FCKMyDropDown.prototype.GetState = function()
   {
      return;
   }
   
   FCKCommands.RegisterCommand( 'InjectDropDownData' , new FCKMyDropDown('InjectDropDownData') ) ; 

//FCKMyDropDown 'Object'
   //This creates the FCKMyDropDown object
   var FCKToolbarMyDropDown=function(A,B){
      this.Command=FCKCommands.GetCommand('InjectDropDownData');//the command to execute when an item is selected
      this.CommandName = 'InjectDropDownData';
      this.Label=this.GetLabel();
      this.Tooltip=A?A:this.Label;
      this.Style=B?B:FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ICONTEXT;
   };
   FCKToolbarMyDropDown.prototype=new FCKToolbarSpecialCombo;
   FCKToolbarMyDropDown.prototype.GetLabel=function(){
      return "Insert Dropdown List Data";
   };
   //This adds the items to the FCKMyDropDown list
   FCKToolbarMyDropDown.prototype.CreateItems=function(A){
try {
// arrComboItems is the name of the array you created in your page
   if (parent.arrComboItems != undefined) {
      if (parent.arrComboItems.length == 0) {
         this._Combo.AddItem('', '<span style="font-size: 9pt;">No options available</span>');
      } else {
         for (var i = 0; i < parent.arrComboItems.length; i++)
            this._Combo.AddItem(parent.arrComboItems[i][0], parent.arrComboItems[i][1], parent.arrComboItems[i][2]);
      }
   } else {
      this._Combo.AddItem('', '<span style="font-size: 9pt;">No options available</span>');
   }
} catch(err) {
   this._Combo.AddItem('', '<span style="font-size: 9pt;">No options available</span>');
}
   }
   
   //This registers the plugin with the FCKEditor
   FCKToolbarItems.RegisterItem( 'InjectDropDownData', new FCKToolbarMyDropDown( 'InjectDropDownData', FCK_TOOLBARITEM_ICONTEXT ) ) ;

And for the JavaScript in your 'editing' page that creates the dropdown data:

<script language="javascript">
var arrComboItems = new Array(
new Array('1', '<span>Granny Smith, Cox, Bramley, Golden Delicious</span>','Apples'),
new Array('2', '<span>Tangerine, Clementine, Satsuma, Mandarin</span>','Oranges'),
new Array('3', '<span>Conference, Comice, Concorde, Worcester Black</span>','Pears')
);
</script>

Finally, add the plugin to your toolbar (in fckconfig.js):

FCKConfig.ToolbarSets["Basic"] = [
   ['Bold','Italic','-','OrderedList','UnorderedList','-','Link','Unlink','-','InjectDropDownData']
] ;

There's probably better ways to achieve this. It's rather long-winded, but it works for me. In my case, I'm pulling out CMS page IDs/titles from a database and using it to insert hyperlinks into my WYSIWYG area.

Oh, and I haven't tested any of the above code - I've just taken it from my plugin and changed a few values. Good luck!

HTH,

Cheers.