Question

I have the following statement:

<%: Html.DropDownList("dropCity", new[] { new SelectlistItem { Text = "City1", Value = 1}, new SelectlistItem { Text = "City2", Value = 2}, new SelectlistItem { Text = "City3", Value = 3}})%> 

Suppous that my controller sent to the aspx page that contais this dropdownlist a variable with the value “3”, how can I set this dropdownlist to select this option when the page loads ?

Thanks for the help !

Answer 1

Use view models:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string SelectedCityId { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Cities { get; set; }
}

then have your controller populate this view model:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    var model = new MyViewModel
    {
        // preselect the second city
        SelectedCityId = "2",
        Cities = new[]
        {
            new SelectListItem { Value = "1", Text = "City1" },
            new SelectListItem { Value = "2", Text = "City2" },
            new SelectListItem { Value = "3", Text = "City3" },
        }
    };
    return View(model);
}

and finally in your strongly typed view:

<%= Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedCityId, Model.Cities) %>