MVC - Set selected value of SelectList

Question

How can I set the selectedvalue property of a SelectList after it was instantiated without a selectedvalue;

SelectList selectList = new SelectList(items, \"I         


        

Answer 1

Doug answered my question... But I'll explain what my problem was exactly, and how Doug helped me solve my problem which you could be encountering.

I call jquery $.post and am replacing my div with my partial view, like so.

function AddNewAddress (paramvalue) {
    $.post(url, { param: paramvalue}, function(d) {
        $('#myDiv').replaceWith(d);
    });
}

When doing so, for some reason when stepping into my model my selected value affiliated property was never set, only until I stepped into the view it came into scope.

So, What I had before

@Html.DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(model => model.CustomerAddresses[i].YearsAtAddress, Model.CustomerAddresses[i].YearsAtAddressSelectList, new {onchange = "return Address.AddNewAddress(this,'" + @Url.Action("AddNewAddress", "Address") + "'," + i + ")"})

however even though Model.CustomerAddresses[i].YearsAtAddressSelectList, was set... it didn't set the selected value.

So after....

 @Html.DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(model => model.CustomerAddresses[i].YearsAtAddress, new SelectList(Model.CustomerAddresses[i].YearsAtAddressSelectList, "Value", "Text", Model.CustomerAddresses[i].YearsAtAddress), new { onchange = "return Address.AddNewAddress(this,'" + @Url.Action("AddNewAddress", "Address") + "'," + i + ")" })

and it worked!

I decided not to use DropDownListFor as it has problem when using unobtrusive validation, which is why i reference the following if your curious in a class classed

HtmlExtensions.cs




[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, Expression> expression, IEnumerable selectList)
{
    return DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, null /* optionLabel */, null /* htmlAttributes */);

}


[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, Expression> expression, IEnumerable selectList, object htmlAttributes)
{
    return DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, null /* optionLabel */, new RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes));

}


[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, Expression> expression, IEnumerable selectList, IDictionary htmlAttributes)
{
    return DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, null /* optionLabel */, htmlAttributes);

}


[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, Expression> expression, IEnumerable selectList, string optionLabel)
{
    return DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, null /* htmlAttributes */);

}


[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, Expression> expression, IEnumerable selectList, string optionLabel, object htmlAttributes)
{
    return DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, new RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes));

}


[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1011:ConsiderPassingBaseTypesAsParameters", Justification = "Users cannot use anonymous methods with the LambdaExpression type")]

[SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]

public static MvcHtmlString DropDownListUnobtrusiveFor(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, Expression> expression, IEnumerable selectList, string optionLabel, IDictionary htmlAttributes)
{
    if (expression == null)
    {
        throw new ArgumentNullException("expression");
    }


    ModelMetadata metadata = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData);



    IDictionary validationAttributes = htmlHelper
        .GetUnobtrusiveValidationAttributes(ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), metadata);



    if (htmlAttributes == null)
        htmlAttributes = validationAttributes;
    else
        htmlAttributes = htmlAttributes.Concat(validationAttributes).ToDictionary(k => k.Key, v => v.Value);



    return SelectExtensions.DropDownListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes);

}