Getting value of select (dropdown) before change

Answer 1

This is an improvement on @thisisboris answer. It adds a current value to data, so the code can control when a variable set to the current value is changed.

(function()
{
    // Initialize the previous-attribute
    var selects = $( 'select' );
    $.each( selects, function( index, myValue ) {
        $( myValue ).data( 'mgc-previous', myValue.value );
        $( myValue ).data( 'mgc-current', myValue.value );  
    });

    // Listen on the body for changes to selects
    $('body').on('change', 'select',
        function()
        {
            alert('I am a body alert');
            $(this).data('mgc-previous', $(this).data( 'mgc-current' ) );
            $(this).data('mgc-current', $(this).val() );
        }
    );
})();