Select box saves but doesn't update value in admin

Question

I have a select dropdown in my custom meta box in the admin area. It offers two options Approved and In Progress. When I select an option and save it the database is updated, but the value in the admin area is not. What I see is the first item from the list displayed in the select box. i.e. if I select In Progress and save the admin shows Approved as the selected value even though it is saved as In Progress in the database and displays In Progress on the front end of the site.

Here is my code:

<label for="myplugin_meta_box_select">Status:</label>
<select name="myplugin_meta_box_select" id="myplugin_meta_box_select">
  <option value="Approved" <?php selected( $selected, 'approved' ); ?>>Approved</option>
  <option value="In Progress" <?php selected( $selected, 'inprogress' ); ?>>In Progress</option>
</select>

And I save it with this:

if( isset( $_POST['myplugin_meta_box_select'] ) )
        update_post_meta( $post_id, 'myplugin_meta_box_select', esc_attr( $_POST['myplugin_meta_box_select'] ) );

What have I missed out?

Answer 1

The second parameter of selected() has to agree with the value attribute of the current <option>. So assuming you have stuffed $selected with the value given by the relevant get_post_meta(), the following should work for you:

<label for="myplugin_meta_box_select">Status:</label>
<select name="myplugin_meta_box_select" id="myplugin_meta_box_select">
  <option value="Approved" <?php selected( $selected, 'Approved' ); ?>>Approved</option>
  <option value="In Progress" <?php selected( $selected, 'In Progress' ); ?>>In Progress</option>
</select>

Side note: I'd personally prefer to use the "sluggish" version (i.e. inprogress instead of In Progress) for the value attribute (and thus for the post meta value), but you'd have to make changes to your front-end as well.

Answer 2

This is what worked for me in the end. I used this to add a metabox:

<?php add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'so_custom_meta_box' );
function so_custom_meta_box($post){
add_meta_box('so_meta_box', 'Additional', 'custom_element_grid_class_meta_box',     'event', 'normal' , 'high');
}
add_action('save_post', 'so_save_metabox');

function so_save_metabox(){ 
global $post;
if(isset($_POST["custom_element_grid_class"])){
    $region = $_POST['region_sel'];
    update_post_meta($post->ID, 'region_sel_meta_box', $region);
}
}
function custom_element_grid_class_meta_box($post){
$region = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'region_sel_meta_box', true);
?>   
<label>Region:  </label>
<select name="region_sel" id="region_sel"> 
    <option value="Region1" <?php selected( $region, 'Region1' ); ?>>Region1</option>
    <option value="Region2" <?php selected( $region, 'Region2' ); ?>>Region2</option>
</select>
<?php } ?>