Change the selected value of a drop-down list with jQuery
<p>I have a drop-down list with known values.  What I'm trying to do is set the drop down list to a particular value that I know exists using jQuery.  Using regular JavaScript, I would do something like:</p>

<pre><code>ddl = document.getElementById("ID of element goes here");
ddl.value = 2; // 2 being the value I want to set it to.
</code></pre>

<p>However, I need to do this with jQuery, because I'm using a CSS class for my selector (stupid <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASP.NET" rel="nofollow">ASP.NET</a> client ids...).</p>

<p>Here are a few things I've tried:</p>

<pre><code>$("._statusDDL").val(2); // Doesn't find 2 as a value.
$("._statusDDL").children("option").val(2) // Also failed.
</code></pre>

<p>How can I do it with jQuery?</p>

<p><strong>Update</strong></p>

<p>So as it turns out, I had it right the first time with:</p>

<pre><code>$("._statusDDL").val(2);
</code></pre>

<p>When I put an alert just above it it works fine, but when I remove the alert and let it run at full speed, I get the error</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Could not set the selected property. Invalid Index</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I'm not sure if it's a bug with jQuery or Internet Explorer 6 (I'm guessing Internet Explorer 6), but it's terribly annoying.</p>
