I used php since the java code I used were bit difficult for me to retrieve the information from the database and add them to the drop down. I was retrieving them using the below function but I have no idea of how to add the retrieved data to the drop down list. private List listOfTeams;
public void returnTeamListfromDB() {
    listOfTeams = new ArrayList<DepartmentBean>();
    Connection connection = DB.getCon();
    try {
        Statement statement = connection.createStatement();
        /* select from the databse but in an ascending order ASC */
        ResultSet result = statement.executeQuery("select department_id from departments order by department_id ASC");
        while (result.next()) {
            DepartmentBean department = new DepartmentBean();
            String nameFromDB = result.getString("department_id");
            int oya = Integer.parseInt(nameFromDB);
            department.setId(oya);
            /* add object to in the team list */
            listOfTeams.add(department);
        }
        connection.close();
    } 
    catch (SQLException e) 
    {
        // TODO Auto-generated catch block
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}
