Question

I am trying to to create a simple drop down menu for my MVC 4 Razor View. I have a Service Class containing a method which returns the following

public List<SelectListItem> YesNoList()
{

    List<SelectListItem> items = new List<SelectListItem>();

    items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "Select", Value = "" });
    items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "Yes", Value = "True" });
    items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "No", Value = "False" });

    return items;
}

I call this service method in my Controller

[AllowAnonymous]
public ActionResult Register()
{
    RegisterModel model = new RegisterModel();

    model.DisabilityList = new SelectList(_listService.YesNoList(), "Value", "Text", "");

    return View(model);
}

Then return it to my Razor View

<div class="editor-label">
    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Disability, "Do you have a disability?")
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
    @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Disability, Model.DisabilityList)
</div>

I would like the item named “Select” to be the selected option in my drop down menu, but it always selects the option “No” by default. Why is this?

I tried changing the SelectListItem to this

items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "Select", Value = "", Selected = True });

But still it selects “No” as the selected option.

A simple bit of coding I know, but I can’t get it working.

Please help.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Is your model Disability bool property nullable?

because if not, the default value of Disability is false and this:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Disability, Model.DisabilityList)

will selected the value associated to false, which is No.