asp.net mvc How to add placeholder for html.dropdownlist

asp.net-mvc, drop-down-menu, placeholder

Solution

In your collection ViewBag.Countries just insert a dummy record at the from of the collection with the name "-select-". You should be able to force the selected item with an alternate constructor like this:

@Html.DropDownList("country",
     new SelectList(ViewBag.countries as System.Collections.IEnumerable,
     "name", "name", "-select-"), new { @class="chzn-select", @style="width:160px;" } )

Problem

I'm using asp.net mvc 3. I have this dropdownlist of countries and I want to add a placeholder for it. Here's my code: ``` @Html.DropDownList("country", new SelectList(ViewBag.countries as System.Collections.IEnumerable, "name", "name"), new { @class="chzn-select", @placeholder="-select-", @style="width:160px;" } ) ``` But the placeholder doesn't work, while the style works. How do I set a placeholder for this? PS. I just want to use `@Html.DropDownList`, not `@Html.DropDownListFor`

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