If you know the Index, Value or Text. also if you don't have an ID for a direct reference.
This, this and this are all helpful answers.
Example markup
<div class="selDiv">
<select class="opts">
<option selected value="DEFAULT">Default</option>
<option value="SEL1">Selection 1</option>
<option value="SEL2">Selection 2</option>
</select>
</div>
Answering my own question for documentation. I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish this, but this works and this code is tested.
<html>
<head>
<script language="Javascript" src="javascript/jquery-1.2.6.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/JavaScript">
$(function() {
$(".update").bind("click", // bind the click event to a div
function() {
var selectOption = $('.selDiv').children('.opts') ;
var _this = $(this).next().children(".opts") ;
$(selectOption).find("option[index='0']").attr("selected","selected");
// $(selectOption).find("option[value='DEFAULT']").attr("selected","selected");
// $(selectOption).find("option[text='Default']").attr("selected","selected");
// $(_this).find("option[value='DEFAULT']").attr("selected","selected");
// $(_this).find("option[text='Default']").attr("selected","selected");
// $(_this).find("option[index='0']").attr("selected","selected");
}); // END Bind
}); // End eventlistener
</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="update" style="height:50px; color:blue; cursor:pointer;">Update</div>
<div class="selDiv">
<select class="opts">
<option selected value="DEFAULT">Default</option>
<option value="SEL1">Selection 1</option>
<option value="SEL2">Selection 2</option>
</select>
</div>
</body>
</html>
If you want to select an option by value:
jQuery('#ddl').attr('value', aValue)
Mike
You can just use val() method:
$('select').val('the_value');
If you want to select an option by value:
jQuery('.opts').attr('value', aValue)