Dropdown list component reverts to designer value on save

The dropdown list in my project reverts back to the value in the designer screen when the project is saved. Since many things are linked to the value selected from the this I have to prevent this.

What is the solution to this?

Thanks

One solution would be to create a client tag and bind the selected value, or selected string value, to that tag. This would keep that value selected even if you navigate away from that window.