AngularJs and <select>: Default selected options are removed

Question

I expect the following code to render a drop down list with the third option selected by default. However, when I bind the select with angularjs, the default selection disappears. Any thought?

var myApp = angular.module('myApp', []);

...

<div>
  <select id="myselection" ng-model="selectedColors">
    <option value="1" >Red</option>
     <option value="2">Blue</option>
     <option value="3" selected="selected">Green</option>
  </select>

  <div>
    Selected Colors: {{selectedColors }}
  </div>
</div>

Here's a working example: http://jsfiddle.net/TXPJZ/134/

Thanks!

Answer 1

The easiest way to fix your implementation is to use ng-init.

<div>
    <select id="myselection" ng-init="selectedColors=3" ng-model="selectedColors">
        <option value="1">Red</option>
        <option value="2">Blue</option>
        <option value="3">Green</option>
    </select>
    <div>Selected Colors: {{selectedColors }}</div>
</div>

Try it on FIDDLE.

Answer 2

Angular overrides the "selected" property when you bind the select to a model. If you inspect the rendered DOM you will find that a new item has been added:

<option value="? undefined:undefined ?"></option>

In order to automatically select the third option you need to pre-populate the model in scope. There are a few ways to do this, including wrapping the select in a controller:

<div ng-controller="MyCtrl">
    <select id="myselection" ng-model="selectedColors">
        <option value="1">Red</option>
        <option value="2">Blue</option>
        <option value="3">Green</option>
    </select>
<div>Selected Colors: {{selectedColors }}</div>

And then defining that model in the controller.

var myApp = angular.module('myApp', [])
    .controller('MyCtrl', ['$scope', function ($scope) {
    $scope.selectedColors = 2;
}]);

Here's a running example.

http://jsfiddle.net/93926/

Alternatively, you could just initialize it using ng-init such as in this example:

<div ng-init="selectedColors=3">

http://jsfiddle.net/9JxqA/1/

EDIT: Removed the selected property in the first example, it's no longer needed.