title: Kendo DropDownList default selected value
body: <p>I have a Kendo DropDownList:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@(Html.Kendo().DropDownList()
      .Name("concessions")
      .HtmlAttributes(new { style = "width:320px" })
      .DataTextField("Description")
      .DataValueField("Id")
      .DataSource(source =&gt;
      {
          source.Read(read =&gt;
          {
              read.Action("getConcessionsDDL", "MasterData");
          });
      })
  )
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The datasource is read from the <code>getConcessionsDDL</code> method, in the controller:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public ActionResult GetConcessionsDDL()
  {
      ConcessionModel cm = new ConcessionModel();
      var aux = cm.getConcessions();
      return Json(aux.concessions.Select(sme =&gt; new ConcessionModel { Description = sme.concession.mediumDescription, Id = sme.concession.id }).Distinct(), JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It works fine, the DropDownList is populated as expected. But now I want define its default selected value. As it is now, the default value is always the first of the list.</p>
  
  <p>I have used <code>.SelectedIndex(4)</code> and it works: the selected index will be 4, in this case. But I want to define this in the controller.</p>
  
  <p>I have tried to pass the selected index in a <code>ViewBag</code> but no luck:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ViewBag.selectedIndex = 21;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And in the view:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@(Html.Kendo().DropDownList()
      .Name("concessions")
      .HtmlAttributes(new { style = "width:320px" })
      .DataTextField("Description")
      .DataValueField("Id")
      .DataSource(source =&gt;
      {
          source.Read(read =&gt;
          {
              read.Action("getConcessionsDDL", "MasterData");
          });
      })
      .SelectedIndex(ViewBag.selectedIndex)
  )
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>No luck so far. Any help?</p>