# Pre load drop down value

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/pre-load-drop-down-value/22288>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [February 1, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/pre-load-drop-down-value/22288 "2019-02-01T13:44:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![craigb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@craigb](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/craigb)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/pre-load-drop-down-value/22288/1 "2019-02-01T13:44:16Z")

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I’ve tried various methods but cant seem to get it right.

I have a form where I edit machine specs and have two drop downs that I want to pre-load a value into, that value will be the current option for that machine like location. Currently it uses the last used value and if the person doesn’t notice it when the confirm any changes they also change that value. I want to pull the value from the database based on the machine selected. I can preload the other options that use a text box but cant figure out the drop downs.

Thankyou.

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**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/pre-load-drop-down-value/22288/2 "2019-02-01T18:14:58Z")

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Add a custom property with a binding that yields the current option. uni-directionally bind the selectedValue property to the custom property. When the window opens, the dropdown will be preset when the first binding loads, but the user will still be able to change the selection. You can use that custom property in a comparison with selectedValue to highlight the field, too.

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**Author:** ![craigb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@craigb](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/craigb)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/pre-load-drop-down-value/22288/3 "2019-02-01T21:22:27Z")

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Thankyou Phil, That worked a treat.