Set the selected item in dropdownlist in MVC3

asp.net-mvc-3, c#, html.dropdownlistfor, razor, selecteditem

Solution

First, create your ViewModel.

public class MovieViewModel
{
    public string Genre { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GenreList
    {
        get
        {
            yield return new SelectListItem { Text = "Comedy", Value = "1" };
            yield return new SelectListItem { Text = "Drama", Value = "2" };
            yield return new SelectListItem { Text = "Documentary", Value = "3" };
        }
    }
}

Then, your controller creates a new instance of this ViewModel and sends it to the view.

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    //
    // GET: /Home/
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var viewModel = new MovieViewModel
        {
            Genre = "2"
        };

        return View(viewModel);
    }
}

Finally, the view displays the dropdownlist using the ASP.NET wrapper [Html.DropDownListFor()][1].

@model MvcApplication1.Models.MovieViewModel

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>
<head>
    <title>My movie</title>
</head>
<body>
    <div>
        @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Genre, Model.GenreList)
    </div>
</body>
</html>

The selected value is then automatically chosen according the ViewModel. There's no need to manually set the Selected property of the objects SelectListitem.

Problem

I have to set the selected item for a dropdownlist in view. But its not working. //View ``` <div class="editor-label"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Gender) </div> <div class="editor-field"> @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Gender,Model.GenderList) </div> ``` //Model ``` [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please select gender!")] [Display(Name = "Gender")] public string Gender { get; set; } public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GenderList { get { return new[] { new SelectListItem { Value = "0", Text = "Select" }, new SelectListItem { Value = "1", Text = "Male" }, new SelectListItem { Value = "2", Text = "Female" }, }; } } ``` The gender property has the value needs to be selected in the list. Still not working. Where i'm wrong?

Original source