Like this:
@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Status, new List<SelectListItem>
{ new SelectListItem{Text="Active", Value="True"},
new SelectListItem{Text="Deactive", Value="False"}},"Select One")
If you want Active to be selected by default then use Selected property of SelectListItem:
@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Status, new List<SelectListItem>
{ new SelectListItem{Text="Active", Value="True",Selected=true},
new SelectListItem{Text="Deactive", Value="False"}},"Select One")
If using SelectList, then you have to use this overload and specify SelectListItem Value property which you want to set selected:
@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.title,
new SelectList(new List<SelectListItem>
{
new SelectListItem { Text = "Active" , Value = "True"},
new SelectListItem { Text = "InActive", Value = "False" }
},
"Value", // property to be set as Value of dropdown item
"Text", // property to be used as text of dropdown item
"True"), // value that should be set selected of dropdown
new { @class = "form-control" })