initial value for django form choice field ignored - django

Question

I have this form:
class UserUsesSourceForm(forms.Form):
# some fields here
username = forms.CharField(label=("Username"), max_length=30, help_text = ("Required"))
provider = forms.ChoiceField(widget=forms.Select(), choices=SOURCES_CHOICES, initial=SOURCES_CHOICES[1])
The available choices are:
E = 'e'
A = 'a'
SOURCES_CHOICES = (
(A, 'A'),
(E, 'E'),
)
The view:
form = UserUsesSourceForm(initial={"username":request.user.username, 'provider':SOURCES_CHOICES[1]})return render_to_response('update_datasource.html', context_instance=RequestContext(request, params))
And the template:
<form action="" method="post">
{% csrf_token %}
{% if form.non_field_errors %}
<p>
{% for error in form.non_field_errors %}
<div class="text-error">{{ error|escape }}</div>
{% endfor %}
</p>
{% endif %}
<div class="control-group">
<label class="control-label" for="id_provider">Data source</label>
<div class="controls">
{{form.provider}}
</div>
</div>
</form>
The problem is that even if the initial value is correctly set, and I can test it in debug (i.e., the form "provider" field initial value is the tuple I want), the final html always show the first element in the select box:
<select name="provider" id="id_provider">
<option value="A">A</option>
<option value="E">E</option>
</select>
..while I'd expect it to have a "default" or "active" option.
Please note that the username field is correctly initialized.
How can I investigate further to find out where the problem is?

Answer 1

You need to pass the option value instead of tuple in initial data:
form = UserUsesSourceForm(
initial={'username':request.user.username,
'provider':SOURCES_CHOICES[1][0]})