Flex 3 - how to select an item in the list as default? - list

Question

how to select an item in the list as default
default selected item say of index 0
I tried stuff like this --
listid.selectedIndex = somevalueinmyprogram - 1; // 0
but when i debug this i get
_selectedIndex = 0
selectedIndex = -1
and default value is not selected why so?
[i have already checked for the obvious that somevaluefrommyprogram is not equal to 0]
Help!

Answer 1

I have found that if you set the selectedItems by defining an array of selected items it works better than the selectedIndex.
function setSelectedCategories():void{
var selectedItems :Array = new Array();
for each (var selectedCategory:Category in entry.categories) {
for each (var category:Category in categories) {
if (selectedCategory.categoryID == category.categoryID){
selectedItems .push(category);
break;
}
}
}
categoriesList.selectedItems = selectedItems ;
}
OR using the selectedIndices works if you want to use an array that contains the indexes that you want to be selected.
for ( var i:int=0; i < userIpods.length; i++ ) {
//j will represent the list item's index value
for ( var j:int = 0; j < iPodAry.length; j++) {
if ( userIpods[i] == iPodAry[j].id ) {
selectedIpodIndices.push( j );
break;
} //end if
} //end for ( var iPodObj:Object in iPodAry) {
} //end for ( var i:int in userIpods )
/*mark as selected those index values in the
selectedIpodIndices array*/
iPodList.selectedIndices = selectedIpodIndices ;