Set selected value in SelectList after instantiation

Question

Am I right to think that there is no way to set the selected value in the C# class SelectList after it is created? Isn\'t that a bit silly?

Answer 1

The SelectList object is readonly after it was created. if you want to select something you better do it like:

<%= Html.DropDownList("clientId", ViewData["clients"] as List,)%>

And in the code behind:

    ViewData["clientId"] = "ASD"; //This should be the value of item you want to select
    ViewData["clients"] = clientItemList; //List