305

As the question says, how do I add a new option to a DropDownList using jQuery?

Thanks

0

12 Answers 12

464

Without using any extra plugins,

var myOptions = {
    val1 : 'text1',
    val2 : 'text2'
};
var mySelect = $('#mySelect');
$.each(myOptions, function(val, text) {
    mySelect.append(
        $('<option></option>').val(val).html(text)
    );
});

If you had lots of options, or this code needed to be run very frequently, then you should look into using a DocumentFragment instead of modifying the DOM many times unnecessarily. For only a handful of options, I'd say it's not worth it though.

------------------------------- Added --------------------------------

DocumentFragment is good option for speed enhancement, but we cannot create option element using document.createElement('option') since IE6 and IE7 are not supporting it.

What we can do is, create a new select element and then append all options. Once loop is finished, append it to actual DOM object.

var myOptions = {
    val1 : 'text1',
    val2 : 'text2'
};
var _select = $('<select>');
$.each(myOptions, function(val, text) {
    _select.append(
            $('<option></option>').val(val).html(text)
        );
});
$('#mySelect').append(_select.html());

This way we'll modify DOM for only one time!

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

11 Comments

The method parameters are a bit misleading, the function(val, text) should be function(index, option) for example. Works well otherwise.
@Crossbrowser: I disagree - val and text actually describe the variables and their use.
for that example only, however as a general purpose method, those variables are misleading (it gave me no clue how to use that method). However, I'll give that the answer was not about the use of the $.each method.
I was previously using mySelect.append(new Option(text, val));, which did not work in IE8. I had to switch to @nickf's mySelect.append($('<option></option>').val(val).html(text));
@briansol : .attr('selected', true|false)
|
176

With no plug-ins, this can be easier without using as much jQuery, instead going slightly more old-school:

var myOptions = {
    val1 : 'text1',
    val2 : 'text2'
};
$.each(myOptions, function(val, text) {
    $('#mySelect').append( new Option(text,val) );
});

If you want to specify whether or not the option a) is the default selected value, and b) should be selected now, you can pass in two more parameters:

    var defaultSelected = false;
    var nowSelected     = true;
    $('#mySelect').append( new Option(text,val,defaultSelected,nowSelected) );

3 Comments

How do you set the properties like selecting a default value?
I like this one better than the "<option></option>" method; that seems dirty.
doesn't work in ie8.. just tried it and also saw another comment on this below.
14

With the plugin: jQuery Selection Box. You can do this:

var myOptions = {
        "Value 1" : "Text 1",
        "Value 2" : "Text 2",
        "Value 3" : "Text 3"
    }
    $("#myselect2").addOption(myOptions, false); 

Comments

13

You may want to clear your DropDown first $('#DropDownQuality').empty();

I had my controller in MVC return a select list with only one item.

$('#DropDownQuality').append(
        $('<option></option>').val(data[0].Value).html(data[0].Text));    

1 Comment

data is undefined.
8

Add item to list in the begining

$("#ddlList").prepend('<option selected="selected" value="0"> Select </option>');

Add item to list in the end

$('<option value="6">Java Script</option>').appendTo("#ddlList");

Common Dropdown operation (Get, Set, Add, Remove) using jQuery

1 Comment

If you use double-quotes inside your option parameters they will close the function and break the script. Changing .prepend("...") / $("...") to .prepend('...') / $('...') would fix the snippet.
4

Pease note @Phrogz's solution doesn't work in IE 8 while @nickf's works in all major browsers. Another approach is:

$.each(myOptions, function(val, text) {
    $("#mySelect").append($("&lt;option/&gt;").attr("value", val).text(text));
});

Comments

3

U can use direct

$"(.ddlClassName").Html("<option selected=\"selected\" value=\"1\">1</option><option value=\"2\">2</option>")

-> Here u can use direct string

Comments

3

And also, use .prepend() to add the option to the start of the options list. http://api.jquery.com/prepend/

Comments

0

using jquery you can use

      this.$('select#myid').append('<option>newvalue</option>');

where "myid" is the id of the dropdown list and newvalue is the text that you want to insert..

Comments

0

I needed to add as many options to dropdowns as there were dropdowns on my page. So I used it in this way:

function myAppender(obj, value, text){
    obj.append($('<option></option>').val(value).html(text));
}

$(document).ready(function() {
    var counter = 0;
    var builder = 0;
    // Get the number of dropdowns
    $('[id*="ddlPosition_"]').each(function() {
        counter++;
    });

    // Add the options for each dropdown
    $('[id*="ddlPosition_"]').each(function() {
        var myId = this.id.split('_')[1];

        // Add each option in a loop for the specific dropdown we are on
        for (var i=0; i<counter; i++) {
            myAppender($('[id*="ddlPosition_'+myId+'"]'), i, i+1);
        }
        $('[id*="ddlPosition_'+myId+'"]').val(builder);
        builder++;
    });
});

This dynamically set up dropdowns with values like 1 to n, and automatically selected the value for the order that dropdown was in (i.e. 2nd dropdown got "2" in the box, etc.).

It was ridiculous that I could not use this or this.Object or $.obj or anything like that in my 2nd .each(), though --- I actually had to get the specific ID of that object and then grab and pass that whole object to my function before it would append. Fortunately the ID of my dropdown was separated by a "_" and I could grab it. I don't feel I should have had to, but it kept giving me jQuery exceptions otherwise. Something others struggling with what I was might enjoy knowing.

4 Comments

Why are you incrementing the counter in each? Are you new to jquery? var counter = $('[id*="ddlPosition_"]').length is less verbose and more efficient. I think you need a little more experience before you start posting your code. This is not production quality code as it is poorly written and overly complex for such a trivial task. No offense but there is a reason you have 58 answers and no up votes.
You obviously misunderstood what I was creating. The counter is to increment the value posted in the drop down, and I had several with the same ID, just with a different "_##" on the end, so .length() would've been inaccurate. That's the reason for the "id*=" in the selector.
As for my other answers, generally I advocate for simpler methods whenever possible, too, and if people weren't so esoteric with their coding and wrote things that were more simplified, my answers would probably have more votes. But people want to make themselves look smart and so they won't pick something so simple. Doesn't make me wrong for wanting to simply the industry. I don't enjoy troubleshooting or building onto other people's code that is ridiculously more complex than it needs to be, either.
I also might have more confidence in $(this).length() in that loop more if someone could explain why sending "$(this)" instead of the object to myAppender didn't work.
0

Lets think your response is "successData". This contains a list which you need to add as options in a dropdown menu.

success: function (successData) {
var sizeOfData = successData.length;
if (sizeOfData == 0) {
    //    NO DATA, throw an alert ...
    alert ("No Data Found");
} else {
    $.each(successData, function(val, text) {
        mySelect.append(
            $('<option></option>').val(val).html(text)
        );
    });
} }

This would work for you ....

Comments

-1

try this Function:

function addtoselect(param,value){
    $('#mySelectBox').append('&lt;option value='+value+'&gt;'+param+'&lt;/option&gt;');
}

Comments

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.