How to display selected value in the Dropdown list box - asp.net-mvc-2

Question

I have this code in my view. I need to display the selected value that is comming from the database in the Dropdownlist.
<select id="PeopleClass" name="PeopleClass">
<option value="1">Name1</option>
<option value="2">Name2</option>
<option value="3">Name3</option>
</select>
Now I am getting default as Name1 but what ever the database value I am coming I need to display in the view?
Can anybody help me out?

Answer 1

DropDownListFor is the method you can use: check this for more details: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.html.selectextensions.dropdownlistfor.aspx
I would suggest you Create
<select id="PeopleClass" name="PeopleClass">
<option value="1">Name1</option>
<option value="2">Name2</option>
<option value="3">Name3</option>
</select>
into a IEnumerable<SelectListItem> and bind it when you render your view with your selected value from database.
// create People class
public class People{
public value {get; set}
public name {get; set}
}
//Create option list for your dropdown
List<People> peopleList=
new List<People>{ new People{ value="1", name ="Name 1"}, new People{ value="2", name ="Name 2"}, new People{ value="3", name ="Name 3"}};
//bind it with ViewData
ViewData["ddl"] = new SelectList(peopleList, "value", "name", valueFromDatabase );
lastly in your view, bind the dropdown list with ViewData["ddl"]
<%=Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.People,(IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewData["ddl"])%>

Answer 2

Setting the selected attribute on the option that you want selected as default should do the trick.
Eg:
<select id="PeopleClass" name="PeopleClass">
<option value="1">Name1</option>
<option value="2">Name2</option>
<option value="3" selected="true">Name3</option>
</select>

Answer 3

In your code-behind you need to set the SelectedValue on the dropdownlist control.
Replace the code you pasted above with the following:
<asp:dropdownlist id=ddlPeopleClass runat=server>
<asp:listitem value=1>Name1</asp:listitem>
<asp:listitem value=2>Name2</asp:listitem>
<asp:listitem value=3>Name3</asp:listitem>
</asp:dropdownlist>
As mentioned in a previous answer set the selected to true on the list item to select it.
<asp:listitem value=3 selected=true>Name3</asp:listitem>
But as you've stated your value comes from the database so you'll be setting this in the code behind.