Kendo Mvc DropdownList, How to set Initial Value

Question

i am using Kendo DropdownList with ajax binding.

With these codes i cannot set inital value that coming from model.It just fill the list with items and selects the first item.

 @(Html.Kendo().DropDownList()
 .Name("NATIONALITY") 
 .DataTextField("DESCRIPTION").HtmlAttributes(new { style = "width:220px" }) 
 .DataValueField("REFERENCEID")
 .Value(Model.NATIONALITY)
         //Placeholder("SELECT")
  .DataSource(source =>
                        {
  source.Read(read =>
             {
        read.Action("GetDefinitionDetails", "Definition", new { definitionCode = "NATIONALITY", addEmptyRow = false });
                            }).ServerFiltering(true);
                            }).ServerFiltering(true);
                        }))

But When i change Html.Kendo().DropDownList() to Html.Kendo().Combobox() it also fills the list and set the initial value as expected(which is the value that passing by model.)

Answer 1

With the latest(maybe works on earlier versions) build of KendoUI , initial Text value can be set on dropdowns:

   ....
   .Value(Model.DOCTORCODE.ToString()) //DOCTORCODE is  guid type
   .Text(Model.DOCTOR)  //DOCTOR is string type.This is optional.It should work without .Text property