MVC Problems setting the selected item of the dropdownlist - asp.net-mvc

Question

In my controller I set the SelectedYear field as follows;
[Authorize(Roles = "Administrator, AdminAccounts")]
public ActionResult BankHoliday(int? id)
{
BankHolidayViewModel BankHolidayViewModel = new BankHolidayViewModel();
int year = DateTime.Now.Year;
if (id.HasValue)
year = id.GetValueOrDefault();
BankHolidayViewModel.SelectedYear = year;
BankHolidayViewModel.GetYearData(year);
return View(BankHolidayViewModel);
}
Whenever I step through the code, the SelectedYear value is always correct on the return statement. In the Year DropDownList below, this is the Value field that sets the selected item in the DropDownList;
<%# Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/AdminAccounts.master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<SHP.WebUI.Models.BankHolidayViewModel>" %>
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
BankHoliday
</asp:Content>
<asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="AdminAccountsContent" runat="server">
<h3>Bank Holiday Administration</h3>
<p>Select the year: <%: Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.SelectedYear, Model.YearList)%></p>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
$(function () {
$("#SelectedYear").change(function () {
var year = $("#SelectedYear").val();
$("#wholepage").load("/AdminAccounts/BankHoliday/" + year);
});
});
* EDIT: ADDED INFO *
The YearList is defined as follows;
public class BankHolidayViewModel
{
public IList<BankHolidayExtended> BankHolidays { get; set; }
public IList<BankHolidayYear> Years { get; set; }
public int SelectedYear = DateTime.Now.Year;
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> YearList
{
get
{
return this.Years.Select(item => new SelectListItem
{
Text = item.Year.ToString(),
Value = item.Year.ToString()
});
}
}
* END EDIT *
For some reason when the View is rendered, there is no selected item in the dropdownlist. How do I fix this?

Answer 1

Your "Inherits" needs to inherit your ViewModel.
Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<ViewModels.BankHolidayViewModel>"
When you create the YearList, you also need to set the selected value. Something like
YearList = new SelectList(GetYears(), "year", "year", SelectedYear);
EDIT
In your view you can set the selected value:
<%= Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedYear, new SelectList(Model.YearList, "Value", "Text", Model.SelectedYear))%>
Or you can do it when you originally set up the Year List as I put above. GetYears() would return the years for the list.
public SelectList YearList { get; private set; }
public class BankHolidayViewModel(int year)
{
YearList = new SelectList(GetYears(), "Value", "Text", year);
Then when you return the view
return View(new BankHolidayViewModel(year));

Answer 2

I didn't really want to change my object to a SelectList, although I am sure that would have worked.
Instead I got the answer by changing the getter;
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> YearList
{
get
{
return this.Years.Select(item => new SelectListItem
{
Text = item.Year.ToString(),
Value = item.Year.ToString(),
Selected = item.Year == this.SelectedYear
});
}
}