DropdownListFor default value

Question

Is there a simple way to add a \"--Please select--\" default option to a DropDownListFor in MVC 3?

Answer 1

I have a couple extension methods on SelectList

    public static SelectList PreAppend(this SelectList list, string dataTextField, string selectedValue, bool selected=false)
    {
        var items = new List();
        items.Add(new SelectListItem() { Selected = selected, Text = dataTextField, Value = selectedValue });
        items.AddRange(list.Items.Cast().ToList());
        return new SelectList(items, "Value", "Text");
    }
    public static SelectList Append(this SelectList list, string dataTextField, string selectedValue, bool selected=false)
    {
        var items = list.Items.Cast().ToList();
        items.Add(new SelectListItem() { Selected = selected, Text = dataTextField, Value = selectedValue });
        return new SelectList(items, "Value", "Text");
    }
    public static SelectList Default(this SelectList list,string DataTextField,string SelectedValue)
    {
        return list.PreAppend(DataTextField, SelectedValue, true);
    }

Then my razor looks like:

@Html.DropDownListFor(m=>m.SelectedState, 
    Model.StateList().Default("Select One",""))