I'm trying to populate an HTML. Dropdownlist with a `selectlist` which is populated with a string value (a location address) and text (a location description) fields from a database call. I am passing the selectlist as viewdata to my view. The dropdown populates fine, but when I go to use the value it is null or empty as seen by an alert I put in my javascript function. Here is the code Any ideas why `this.locations.value` is null:

My View code:

```
<script type="text/javascript">
    var map;
    var gdir;
    var geocoder = null;
    var addressMarker;

    function setDirections(fromAddress, toAddress, locale) {
        alert(toAddress);
        gdir.load("from: " + fromAddress + " to: " + toAddress, { "locale": locale });
    }
</script>

<div id="maincontent2">
    <form action="#" onsubmit="setDirections(this.from.value, this.locations.value, 'en_US'); return false">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <th align="left">From:&nbsp;</th>
                <td align="left" ><input type="text" id="fromAddress" name="from" size="35px" value="King of Prussia, PA"/></td>
                <th align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;To:&nbsp;</th>
                <td align="left"> <%= Html.DropDownList("locations",(SelectList)ViewData["OfficeLocations"])%></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td></td>
                <td align="left">
                    <br />
                    <input name="submit" type="submit" value="Get Directions!" />
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
        <table>
            <tr>
                <td valign="top"><div id="drv_directions" style="width: 250px"></div></td>
                <td valign="top" style="padding-top:15px"><div id ="map_canvas"></div></td>
            </tr>
        </table>      
     </form>
</div>

```

My Controller Code:

```
public ActionResult Directions()
{
    uls_dbDataContext ulsdb_dc = new uls_dbDataContext();
    ViewData["OfficeLocations"] = new SelectList(ulsdb_dc.GetOfficeLocations(),"location_address", "location_name");
    ViewData["Title"] = "Directions";

    return View();
}

```