How do I get a DropDown to have a selected value when I display the form in asp.net mvc?

Question

Here is what I have in the controller:

IList<LocationInFacility> locs = LocationsInFacility(custCodeID);
ViewData["LocationsInFacility"] = new SelectList(locs, "ID", "Name", "DL");

Here is the view:

<label>Location in Facility</label>
<%= Html.DropDownList
        ("LocationsInFacility",(SelectList)ViewData["LocationsInFacility"]) %>

Here is the html output, I would have expected "DL" to be selected but it's not:

<select id="LocationsInFacility" name="LocationsInFacility">
<option value="">-- Select a Location in Facility --</option>
<option value="DL">DELI</option>
<option value="BK">BAKERY</option>
</select>

Why is "DL" not selected? What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Is DL a string in the LocationsInFacility data? You may need to pass the value in if not, rather than the ToString equivalent

Answer 2

The solution is to change the Html.DropDownList to:

<%= Html.DropDownList("LocationsInFacility") %>