Value of selected option from dropdown

Hi All,

Is there any backdoor method where I can gets this value of a dropdown list. I'm stuck with this grid where the first row is used to enter the search criteria. and the result of the search is populated in sebsequent rows of another grid. The first row has a dropdown list. and I need to get the values of the selected option(not the text value but the internal value).

In short the search criteria is in a different grid and the search results are poupated in the bottom-most grid.

Please give your suggestions.

The innerhtml (DOM Property) of the control can be used to get the internal value of the comtrol

<select name = "opt1">
<option value = "sametext1">sametext1</option>
<option value = "sametext2">sametext2</option>
</select>

.... presuming only one form on the page .... js:
alert (document.forms[0].opt1.value)