How to set default value on form drop downs

HTML & CSS
1

I have a form with select drop down options. The form allows users to edit their profile, so I want to dynamically set the default value equal to their value in the database. I have the database part working but I’m having problems figuring out the html part for some reason.

What should I have for the first line where %s is their current value.


<option value='%s' selected='selected'>%s</option>

Here is the select tag


                   <select name='state'>
	                <option value='%s' selected='selected'>%s</option>
	                <option value='Alabama'>Alabama</option>
	                <option value='Alaska'>Alaska</option>
	                <option value='Arizona'>Arizona</option>
	                <option value='Arkansas'>Arkansas</option>
	                <option value='California'>California</option>
	                <option value='Colorado'>Colorado</option>
	                <option value='Connecticut'>Connecticut</option>
	                <option value='Delaware'>Delaware</option>
	                <option value='District Of Columbia'>District Of Columbia</option>
	                <option value='Florida'>Florida</option>
	                <option value='Georgia'>Georgia</option>
	                <option value='Hawaii'>Hawaii</option>
	                <option value='Idaho'>Idaho</option>
	                <option value='Illinois'>Illinois</option>
	                <option value='Indiana'>Indiana</option>
	                <option value='Iowa'>Iowa</option>
	                <option value='Kansas'>Kansas</option>
	                <option value='Kentucky'>Kentucky</option>
	                <option value='Louisiana'>Louisiana</option>
	                <option value='Maine'>Maine</option>
	                <option value='Maryland'>Maryland</option>
	                <option value='Massachusetts'>Massachusetts</option>
	                <option value='Michigan'>Michigan</option>
	                <option value='Minnesota'>Minnesota</option>
	                <option value='Mississippi'>Mississippi</option>
	                <option value='Missouri'>Missouri</option>
	                <option value='Montana'>Montana</option>
	                <option value='Nebraska'>Nebraska</option>
	                <option value='Nevada'>Nevada</option>
	                <option value='New Hampshire'>New Hampshire</option>
	                <option value='New Jersey'>New Jersey</option>
	                <option value='New Mexico'>New Mexico</option>
	                <option value='New York'>New York</option>
	                <option value='North Carolina'>North Carolina</option>
	                <option value='North Dakota'>North Dakota</option>
	                <option value='Ohio'>Ohio</option>
	                <option value='Oklahoma'>Oklahoma</option>
	                <option value='Oregon'>Oregon</option>
	                <option value='Pennsylvania'>Pennsylvania</option>
	                <option value='Rhode Island'>Rhode Island</option>
	                <option value='South Carolina'>South Carolina</option>
	                <option value='South Dakota'>South Dakota</option>
	                <option value='Tennessee'>Tennessee</option>
	                <option value='Texas'>Texas</option>
	                <option value='Utah'>Utah</option>
	                <option value='Vermont'>Vermont</option>
	                <option value='Virginia'>Virginia</option>
	                <option value='Washington'>Washington</option>
	                <option value='West Virginia'>West Virginia</option>
	                <option value='Wisconsin'>Wisconsin</option>
	                <option value='Wyoming'>Wyoming</option>
	            </select>
2

Well it not the HTML it’s the thinking behind it. You DONT want to have a separate option tag for this. Even if it worked it would mean you would have the users location appear TWICE ( once as the selected and the other in the list).

What you want to do instead is ADD “selected=‘selected’” to the option tag that has the same value as the users current value.

3

Are you using PHP to pull the data or doing an AJAX call? Have to know what your using on the server side to help.

4

Yeah your thinking about this the wrong way, add “selected=‘selected’” to the option tag that matches the users selected value.