asp.net mvc - DropDownListFor in EditorTemplate not selecting value

Question

I have an editor template for a custom object. Inside that editor template I use a couple of DropDownListFor helpers. In each of them I specify a unique model property (with the pre-selected value) and the select list containing all the select options.

Example:

<%=Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.DocumentCategoryType, Model.DocumentCategoryTypeList) %>

I know that the option values are being populated (from viewing source) and that my Model is passed in with the correct ID value (DocumentCategoryType).

When the view is rendered, there is no selected item in my dropdown and therefore it defaults to the first (non-selected) value.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Answer 1

We also solved the solution by populating a new SelectList that has the appropriate SelectListItem selected, but created this extension method to keep the call to DropDownListFor a little cleaner:

public static SelectList MakeSelection(this SelectList list, object selection)
{
    return new SelectList(list.Items, list.DataValueField, list.DataTextField, selection);
}

Then your DropDownListFor call becomes:

<%= Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.DocumentCategoryType, Model.DocumentCategoryTypeList.MakeSelection(Model.DocumentCategoryType)) %>