Why is my selected value showing up twice in a dropdownlist (asp.net mvc)

Question

i have an asp.net mvc view with the following code to show a dropdown list:

 <% = Html.DropDownList("filter", Model.MyList, Model.MyDefaultValue, new { @id = "filter", @class = "complete" })%>

Model.MyList is a List with my items and one blank one at top and Model.MYDefaultValue is a string.

When i run this it looks like it works but i get my default listed twice

so lets say my list is:

Ford
Toyota
Chevy

and my Default is Toyota

when i click on the drop down i get:

Toyota

Ford
Toyota
Chevy

you see Toyota was added as the first item and as the 4th item.

Answer 1

The Html.DropDownList() method accepts an optionLabel string parameter, the text of which is inserted at the top of the dropdown list (with an empty value). It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with which item of the list is selected.

You could create a SelectList using your MyList and specify a selected value (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd492553.aspx) before passing it to Html.DropDownList().