Change the selected value of a drop-down list with jQuery

Phairoh_61029 0
Viewed 1520764

I have a drop-down list with known values. What I'm trying to do is set the drop down list to a particular value that I know exists using jQuery. Using regular JavaScript, I would do something like:

ddl = document.getElementById("ID of element goes here");
ddl.value = 2; // 2 being the value I want to set it too.

However, I need to do this with jQuery, because I'm using a CSS class for my selector (stupid ASP.NET client ids...).

Here are a few things I've tried:

$("._statusDDL").val(2); // Doesn't find 2 as a value.
$("._statusDDL").children("option").val(2) // Also failed.

How can I do it with jQuery?

Update

So as it turns out, I had it right the first time with:

$("._statusDDL").val(2);

When I put an alert just above it works fine, but when I remove the alert and let it run at full speed, I get the error

Could not set the selected property. Invalid Index

I'm not sure if it's a bug with jQuery or Internet Explorer 6 (I'm guessing Internet Explorer 6), but it's terribly annoying.

html-select asp.net jquery javascript
18 Answers

jQuery's documentation states:

[jQuery.val] checks, or selects, all the radio buttons, checkboxes, and select options that match the set of values.

This behavior is in jQuery versions 1.2 and above.

You most likely want this:

$("._statusDDL").val('2');

Add .change() to see the option in the dropdown list frontend:

$("._statusDDL").val('2').change();
user_399920

Just an FYI, you don't need to use CSS classes to accomplish this.

You can write the following line of code to get the correct control name on the client:

$("#<%= statusDDL.ClientID %>").val("2");

ASP.NET will render the control ID correctly inside the jQuery.

y0mbo_4170

Just try with 

$("._statusDDL").val("2");

and not with 

$("._statusDDL").val(2);
emas_611780

Another option is to set the control param ClientID="Static" in .net and then you can access the object in JQuery by the ID you set.

user_12437900

How are you loading the values into the drop down list or determining which value to select? If you are doing this using Ajax, then the reason you need the delay before the selection occurs could be because the values were not loaded in at the time that the line in question executed. This would also explain why it worked when you put an alert statement on the line before setting the status since the alert action would give enough of a delay for the data to load.

If you are using one of jQuery's Ajax methods, you can specify a callback function and then put $("._statusDDL").val(2); into your callback function.

This would be a more reliable way of handling the issue since you could be sure that the method executed when the data was ready, even if it took longer than 300 ms.

Pervez_Choudhury_416730

In my case I was able to get it working using the .attr() method.

$("._statusDDL").attr("selected", "");
user_33041040

Pure JS

For modern browsers using CSS selectors is not a problem for pure JS

document.querySelector('._statusDDL').value = 2;


function change() {
  document.querySelector('._statusDDL').value = 2;
}
<select class="_statusDDL">
  <option value="1" selected>A</option>
  <option value="2">B</option>
  <option value="3">C</option>
</select>

<button onclick="change()">Change</button>

user_8600990

If we want to find from the option name and then selected options with the jQuery please see below code:-

<div class="control">
           <select name="country_id" id="country" class="required-entry" title="Country" data-validate="{'validate-select':true}" aria-required="true">
              <option value=""> </option>
              <option value="SA">Saudi Arabia</option>
              <option value="AF">Afghanistan</option>
              <option value="AR">Argentina</option>
              <option value="AM">Armenia</option>
              <option value="AW">Aruba</option>
              <option value="AU">Australia</option>
              <option value="AT">Austria</option>
              <option value="IS">Iceland</option>
              <option value="IN">India</option>
              <option value="ID">Indonesia</option>
              <option value="IR">Iran</option>
              <option value="IQ">Iraq</option>
              <option value="IE">Ireland</option>
              <option value="IM">Isle of Man</option>
              <option value="IL">Israel</option>
              <option value="IT">Italy</option>
              <option value="JM">Jamaica</option>
              <option value="JP">Japan</option>
              <option value="JE">Jersey</option>
              <option value="JO">Jordan</option>
              <option value="AE">United Arab Emirates</option>
              <option value="GB">United Kingdom</option>
              <option value="US" selected="selected">United States</option>
           </select>
        </div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
let countryRegion="India";
     jQuery("#country option:selected").removeAttr("selected");
        let cValue= jQuery("#country option:contains("+countryRegion+")").val();
        jQuery("#country option[value='"+cValue +"']").attr('selected', 'selected');
</script>

I hope this will help!

user_72087410
Related