DropdownListFor default value

Is there a simple way to add a "--Please select--" default option to a DropDownListFor in MVC 3?

So, I did something like this:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Dessert, 
                      new SelectList(Model.AvailableDesserts, "DessertID", "DessertName"),
                      "---Select A Dessert ---")

Seems to work pretty well. Dessert in my viewmodel is the one selected by the user. AvailableDesserts is a collection of ones to pick from. Hope that helps.

I have a couple extension methods on SelectList

    public static SelectList PreAppend(this SelectList list, string dataTextField, string selectedValue, bool selected=false)
    {
        var items = new List<SelectListItem>();
        items.Add(new SelectListItem() { Selected = selected, Text = dataTextField, Value = selectedValue });
        items.AddRange(list.Items.Cast<SelectListItem>().ToList());
        return new SelectList(items, "Value", "Text");
    }
    public static SelectList Append(this SelectList list, string dataTextField, string selectedValue, bool selected=false)
    {
        var items = list.Items.Cast<SelectListItem>().ToList();
        items.Add(new SelectListItem() { Selected = selected, Text = dataTextField, Value = selectedValue });
        return new SelectList(items, "Value", "Text");
    }
    public static SelectList Default(this SelectList list,string DataTextField,string SelectedValue)
    {
        return list.PreAppend(DataTextField, SelectedValue, true);
    }

Then my razor looks like:

@Html.DropDownListFor(m=>m.SelectedState, 
    Model.StateList().Default("Select One",""))

Hi what about trying this (in case you use DisplayFor method)

private IEnumerable<SelectListItem> AddDefaultOption(IEnumerable<SelectListItem> list, string dataTextField, string selectedValue)
    {
        var items = new List<SelectListItem>();
        items.Add(new SelectListItem() { Text = dataTextField, Value = selectedValue});
        items.AddRange(list);
        return items;
    }

Then just add this code to your Controller

//lambda expression binding
ViewBag.YourList = db.YourTable.Select(x => x).ToList().Select(x => new SelectListItem
        {
            Value = x.Id.ToString(),
            Text = x.DisplayName.ToString()
        });

        ViewBag.YourList = AddDefaultOption(ViewBag.YourList, "Select One...", "null", true);

And finally at the View you could display a dropdown, combobox just like this

    <div class="editor-label">
        Your Label
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
        @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.ForeignKey, (IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.YourList)
    </div>