SelectListItem selected = true not working in view

Question

I have a gender select field (--Select--, Male, Female) and I'm populating that in my controller. When the page loads, I want the gender that is selected in the model pm.Gender to be automatically selected when the page loads.

The values from pm.Gender come back as:

" "
"M"
"F"

View:

<%: Model.Gender %>
<%: Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Gender, (IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewData["gender"], new { @class = "span2" })%>

Controller:

gender = new[] { "Select", "Male", "Female" };
List<SelectListItem> genderselectList = new List<SelectListItem>();
foreach (string item in gender)
{
   SelectListItem sli = new SelectListItem { Text = item, Value = item };

   if (item.Trim().StartsWith(pm.Gender))
      sli.Selected = true;

   genderselectList.Add(sli);
}

ViewData["gender"] = genderselectList;

After debugging the application, I can see that genderselectList contains the proper data with Selected = true for the proper value that is supposed to be selected. But when the page loads, nothing is selected in the dropdown list that was supposed to be generated with the Html.DropDownListFor.

Edit: Does not work in any browser.

Anyone know what could be causing this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers.

EDIT: (After implementing Kaf's solution)
Ok so this is what I'm doing after implementing Kaf's solution.

View:

<%: Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Gender, (SelectList)(ViewData["gender"]), new { @class = "span2" }) %>

Controller:

gender = new[] { "Select", "Male", "Female" };
List<SelectList> genderselectList = new List<SelectList>();
foreach (string item in gender)
{
    SelectList sli;

    if (item.Trim().StartsWith(pm.Gender))
        sli = new SelectList(GetGender(), item, item, item); 
    else
        sli = new SelectList(GetGender(), item, item);
        //without selectedValue

    genderselectList.Add(sli);
}

ViewData["gender"] = genderselectList;

When I do that, I get the following exception:
Unable to cast object of type 'System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.Web.Mvc.SelectList]' to type 'System.Web.Mvc.SelectList'.

Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Is this only in IE9? I had a similar problem a while back I wasn't able to solve. — akatakritos, May 11 '12 at 14:46
Use `ViewData["gender"] = new SelectList(GetGender(), "Key", "Value", "Male");` as in my answer. You are not using it as I posted but mixing it up. — Kaf, May 11 '12 at 15:34
yes but in this case its hard coded as "Male" but I need it to be selected dynamically from the pm.Gender. — Farhan Ahmad, May 11 '12 at 15:39
Then use the `without the selectedValue` as I have posted my answer. Model binder will do the rest. Please read the answer. — Kaf, May 11 '12 at 15:42
Yes. That is what I was trying to implement. Look at the edit I made in my question. I seem to be having a problem implementing your solution. — Farhan Ahmad, May 11 '12 at 15:47

Prashanth Thurairatnam · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-14T21:59:05.633

24

I suggest it's better if you use strongly typed property for SelectList (rather than using ViewBag/ViewData). I believe what you are expecting is that your dropdownlist to be pre-selected with the gender selection made in the model. Here is a solution (code is not 100% clean. But this will work)

Model

public class TestModel
{
    public string Gender { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GenderList
    {
        get
        {
            List<SelectListItem> list = new List<SelectListItem> { new SelectListItem() { Text = "Select", Value = "Select" }, new SelectListItem() { Text = "Male", Value = "Male" }, new SelectListItem() { Text = "Female", Value = "Female" } };
            return list.Select(l => new SelectListItem { Selected = (l.Value == Gender), Text = l.Text, Value = l.Value });
        }
    }
}

Controller Action

public ActionResult MyView()
{
    TestModel m = new TestModel();
    m.Gender = "Female";
    return View(m);
}

MyView.cshtml

@model TestModel

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "MyView";
}

<h2>MyView</h2>
@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    <div>
          @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Gender, Model.GenderList)
    </div>
}

OUTPUT

dropdown with 'Female' option selected

enter image description here

EDIT

Based on comments find below links to sample projects

1) https://github.com/prashanth-t/DropdownDemo_BareBones (Using the MVC 4 empty template. Smaller file size with bare minimum)

2) https://github.com/prashanth-t/DropdownDemo (Using the MVC 4 internet application template. Bigger file size)

edited Aug 14 '15 at 21:59

answered May 11 '12 at 15:59

Prashanth Thurairatnam

4,353
2
14
17

1

Thanks for your answer. I will let you know once I get it working. – Farhan Ahmad May 11 '12 at 16:19
in MVC 4 it didnt work! still selects the first item in the list. – Umit Kaya Aug 12 '15 at 10:00
@Umitk Downvote!!! are you serious mate? First of all the question got answered 3 years back. Did you follow the instructions? It does work with MVC 4 as well. – Prashanth Thurairatnam Aug 13 '15 at 08:58
@Umitk FYI: I've uploaded a demo project to github (MVC 4 internet application template is used). Run the application and from Home page I've added a link to 'MyView'. Here is the github link https://github.com/prashanth-t/DropdownDemo – Prashanth Thurairatnam Aug 13 '15 at 09:00
if u can edit your answer, i can upvote. now I'm not allowed to upvote. – Umit Kaya Aug 14 '15 at 11:26
@Umitk You will need to undo down vote (by clicking again on down arrow) before you can up vote. Anyway I have edited my answer by adding links to sample projects. – Prashanth Thurairatnam Aug 14 '15 at 22:01

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 10 '19 at 05:09

This is a known bug in ASP.NET MVC Razor View. As per the known bug documentation

"The reason behind this problem is that asp.net MVC first looks for a match between the name of the drop down and property on the model. If there’s a match, the selected value of the SelectList is overridden. Changing the name of the drop down is all it takes to remedy the issue."

I'm here giving a small example which you can use to test the resolution.

 var paymentTypeList = new List<SelectListItem>
                {
                    new SelectListItem { Text = "Select Payment Type", Value = "NA" },
                    new SelectListItem { Text = "Card", Value = "Card" },
                    new SelectListItem { Text = "Paytm Wallet", Value = "Paytm Wallet" },
                    new SelectListItem { Text = "Cash", Value = "Cash", Selected = true },
                    new SelectListItem { Text = "Credit", Value = "Credit" },
                    new SelectListItem { Text = "Other", Value = "Other" }
                };
 ViewBag.paymentTypeList = paymentTypeList;

Resolution Option 1 (Easiest) - Change the Name of declaration id of select list id in MVC view e.g

@Html.DropDownList("paymentTypeListNew", (List<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.paymentTypeList, new { @class = "form-control select2 select1" })

Resolution 2: (Use only single constructor of @Html.DropDownList that matches viewbag/viewdata property)

To ensure that selected item (cash in this example) gets selected do the following in MVC Razor View. Use only the following constructor without any CSS or new object values

 @Html.DropDownList("paymentTypeList")

Now if you are worried that you cannot initialize the CSS then you need to initialize the css programitally. For example if you are using Jquery then can you can use

$("#paymentTypeList").addClass("form-control");
            $("#paymentTypeList").addClass("select2");

Thanks! After debugging for an hour I found your answer. This bug is so annoying and nearly impossible to debug. — zsolt, Nov 20 '20 at 17:10

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited May 27 '15 at 02:48

3

Method to get genders with select:

private Dictionary<string,string> GetGender(){
    Dictionary<string, string> myDic = new Dictionary<string, string>();
    myDic.Add(System.DBNull.Value.ToString(), "Select");
    myDic.Add("Male", "Male");
    myDic.Add("Female", "Female");
    return myDic;
}

In the controller:

//without selectedValue
ViewData["gender"]  = new SelectList(GetGender(), "Key", "Value");

OR

//"Male" as selectedValue
ViewData["gender"]  = new SelectList(GetGender(), "Key", "Value", "Male");

In the view:

Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Gender, (SelectList)(ViewData["gender"]),
                        new { @class = "span2" })

edited May 27 '15 at 02:48

Barney

2,355
3
22
37

answered May 11 '12 at 15:00

Kaf

33,101
7
58
78

Ok. Let me play around with it a little. I'll get back to you soon. Thanks – Farhan Ahmad May 11 '12 at 15:20
I updated my question after implementing your solution but I'm still getting an exception. Can you take a look to see what I'm doing wrong? Thanks – Farhan Ahmad May 11 '12 at 15:30
What you are having is a compiler error due to incompleted statement. [read here](http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/tc5zwdf7(v=vs.71).aspx). I use Razor view so it starts with @ sign. Pls check if it is <%: or <%= if that makes sense? – Kaf May 11 '12 at 15:32

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered May 11 '12 at 14:57

2

Try this instead in the controller:

string[] gender = new string[] {"Male", "Female"};
string selectedGender = gender.Where(x => x.StartsWith(pm.gender)).FirstOrDefault();
ViewData["gender"] = new SelectList(gender, selectedGender);

And in the view:

<%: Html.Dropdownlist(x => x.Gender, ViewData["gender"], "Select") %>

answered May 11 '12 at 14:57

ristonj

1,590
1
12
15

This seems to be causing an exception: c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\a2ddcf57\568ca5cc\App_Web_index.aspx.73c2a466.g30mf9nu.0.cs(423): error CS1026: ) expected – Farhan Ahmad May 11 '12 at 15:05
You're missing an end paranthesis somewhere. Correct the missing parenthesis (there are none in my unedited code) and let me know if it works. – ristonj May 11 '12 at 15:58

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 20 '19 at 02:58

After searching myself for answer to this problem - I had some hints along the way but this is the resulting solution. It is an extension Method. I am using MVC 5 C# 4.52 is the target. The code below sets the Selection to the First Item in the List because that is what I needed, you might desire simply to pass a string and skip enumerating - but I also wanted to make sure I had something returned to my SelectList from the DB)

Extension Method:

public static class SelectListextensions
{

    public static System.Web.Mvc.SelectList SetSelectedValue
(this System.Web.Mvc.SelectList list, string value)
    {
        if (value != null)
        {
            var selected = list.Where(x => x.Text == value).FirstOrDefault();
            selected.Selected = true;                
        }
        return list;
    }    
}

And for those who like the complete low down (like me) here is the usage. The object Category has a field defined as Name - this is the field that will show up as Text in the drop down. You can see that test for the Text property in the code above.

Example Code:

SelectList categorylist = new SelectList(dbContext.Categories, "Id", "Name");

SetSelectedItemValue(categorylist);

select list function:

private SelectList SetSelectedItemValue(SelectList source)
{
   Category category = new Category();

    SelectListItem firstItem = new SelectListItem();

    int selectListCount = -1;

    if (source != null && source.Items != null)
    {
        System.Collections.IEnumerator cenum = source.Items.GetEnumerator();

        while (cenum.MoveNext())
        {
            if (selectListCount == -1)
            {
                selectListCount = 0;
            }

            selectListCount += 1;

            category = (Category)cenum.Current;

            source.SetSelectedValue(category.Name);

            break;
        }
        if (selectListCount > 0)
        {
            foreach (SelectListItem item in source.Items)
            {
                if (item.Value == cenum.Current.ToString())
                {
                    item.Selected = true;

                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return source;
}

You can make this a Generic All Inclusive function / Extension - but it is working as is for me.

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 18 '17 at 13:24

Try this;

public static List<SelectListItem> ListSexo { get; } = new List<SelectListItem>
    {
        new SelectListItem{Selected =true, Value="N", Text="Seleccione"},
        new SelectListItem{Value="F", Text="Femenino"},
        new SelectListItem{Value="M", Text="Masculino"}
    };

<select asp-for="Sexo" asp-items="Commons.ListSexo" class="form-control"></select>

SelectListItem selected = true not working in view

6 Answers6

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