How can I make my SelectListItem overload set the “Value” property to be the same as the “Text” property? - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

I’am tryinng to do something like this in my view:
#{
string selectgedOne = ViewBag.sellectedvalue;
}
#Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Category, Model.Categories.Select(x => new SelectListItem { Text = x.ToString(), Value = x.ToString(), Selected = x.ToString().Equals(selectgedOne.ToString()) }))
But what returns is...
System.Web.Mvc.SelectListItem
I’m sort of successful whin I use this version …
#Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Category, Model.Categories, selectgedOne)
…here it sets the value in the list box but when I F12 the page I see that first option value is not set to the same as the text…
<select id="Category" name="Category">
<option value="">Tests</option>
<option value="In class participation">In class participation</option>
<option value="Homework">Homework</option>
<option value="Projects">Projects</option>
<option value="Tests">Tests</option>
<option value="Other">Other</option>
</select>
… so if I post this to the controller Categary will be a empty string.
How can I make my SelectListItem overload set the “Value” property to be the same as the “Text” property?
Thanks for helping.

Answer 1

I sent the value (assignCategory) that I want at the top of the list then...
public ActionResult Categories(int? id, int? department, String assignCategory)
{
var categories = new List<SelectListItem>();
for (int i = 0; i < rubricsList.Count(); i++)
{
categories.Add(new SelectListItem
{
Text = rubricsList[i],
Value = rubricsList[i],
Selected = true
});
}
switch (assignCategory)
{
case "A":
categories.Insert(0, new SelectListItem
{
Text = rubricsList[0],
Value = rubricsList[0],
Selected = true
});
break;
// More cases here
}
The return view is partial with a single line that looks like this:
#Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Category, Model.Categories)
Now the first value in the dropdown list is set and can be submitted properly