       border  = parseInt(@_clone.css("borderTopWidth"), 10) + parseInt(@_clone.css("borderBottomWidth"), 10)
       height  = height + border + padding
 
-    @setHeight Math.max @initialHeight, height
+    @setHeight \
+      if @initialHeight
+      then Math.max @initialHeight, height
+      else height
 
   enableTabKey:-> @inputTabKeyEnabled = yes
 

    else if event.which is 39 and t.value.slice(ss,ss + tabLength) is tab
      event.preventDefault()
      t.selectionStart = t.selectionEnd = ss + tabLength

  viewAppended: ->
    @initialHeight = @$().height()

          @setValue o.selectOptions[Object.keys(o.selectOptions)[0]][0].value unless o.defaultValue
        else
          @setValue o.selectOptions[0].value unless o.defaultValue

    if o.autogrow
      @once "focus", =>
        @initialHeight = @$().height()  unless @initialHeight

  setDomElement:(cssClass = "")->
    name = "name='#{@options.name}'"
