Displaying Saved Meta Box Data in Drop Down with selected()

Question

I have a custom meta-box for certain custom post types, and one of those fields in the meta-box is a drop down.

I am providing the field correctly, saving the information, and even calling it correctly (so I know it is being saved properly), however, when you return to edit the post, or update, the drop-down always has the first <select> option listed, which I'm afraid my confuse some of the people editing these post types in the future.

For example, if an editor selects "Option 2", then hits Publish or Update, "Option 2" is saved and called in the loop, but the drop down immediately shows "Option 1" again.

Is there a way to have the 'selected' option that is saved be displayed on top, or at the top of the list, so it appears to the editor as saved?

My functions code :

function meta_options(){
    global $post;
    $custom = get_post_custom($post->ID);
    $price = $custom["price"][0];
    $selected = isset( $values['location'] ) ? esc_attr( $values['location'][0] ) :'';  
?>
<label>Price:</label><input name="price" value="<?php echo $price; ?>" />
<label>Location : </label>  <br />
<select name="location" id="location">  
    <option value="Option 1" <?php selected( $selected, 'Option 1' ); ?>>Option 1</option>  
    <option value="Option 2" <?php selected( $selected, 'Option 2' ); ?>>Option 2</option>  
</select>
<?php } ?>

and then saving that information:

function save_price(){
    global $post;
    update_post_meta($post->ID, "price", $_POST["price"]);
    update_post_meta( $post->ID, 'location', esc_attr( $_POST['location'] ));  
}

Am I doing this correctly? Is there an easy way to accomplish this?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

<?php selected() ?> compares the value of the stored data and which option should appear first, my error was that I wasn't storing the variable to compare it to correctly.

$selected = isset( $values['location'] ) ? esc_attr( $values['location'][0] ) : ”;

should be changed to:

$selected = isset( $custom['location'] ) ? esc_attr( $custom['location'][0] ) : ”;

It was a simple syntax error on my part, as I was referring to the variable incorrectly. Once that was changed, the function <?php selected( $selected, 'Option 1' ); ?> will compare the variable vs. the string in place and then display selected="selected" to place that drop-down item on top.