MVC3 @Html.DropDownListFor not populating selected item

Question

I have the following dropdown list in an MVC3 application and the selected item is not showing a value. My dropdown list is contained in a list of a custom class. My view

Answer 1

Try like that:

@Html.DropDownListFor(
    m => m.PartAttributes[i].Value, 
    new SelectList(
        Model.PartAttributes[i].PartList, 
        "Value", 
        "Text", 
        Model.PartAttributes[i].Value
    ), 
    "Choose Part"
)

AFAIK the DropDownListFor helper is unable to determine the selected value from the lambda expression that is passed as first argument if this lambda expression represents complex nested properties with collections. Works with simple properties though: m => m.FooBar. I know that it kinda sucks, but hopefully this will be fixed in future versions.