Dynamically populate DropDownList and make a selection based on text

[Richard]

Consider this fiddle that uses chained deferreds to 
1. obtain an initial text that should be selected (ajax)
2. populates a drop down list (kendoDropDownList)
3. select initial text in the DDL

My problem is in step 3.
Is there a method or technique for selecting an item in the DDL based on its dataTextField ?

I saw earlier posts that indicate .value() should be used, but I only have the data text (from step 1).

The fiddle now works as I expect it to.  The .search() method was used to select an item by data text.

Thanks,
Richard

[Georgi Krustev]

Hi,

 
You can use the select method with custom predicate. Thus you can decide which item to select depending on custom condition.

All the best,
Georgi Krustev
the Telerik team