Q:

Selecting default values in KENDO UI Multiselect

I have a kendo UI multiselect input. I am populating the values with a JSON object. I want the first value to be selected. Based on the documenation I have given as below but the value is still not selected.
$("#days").kendoMultiSelect({
                dataTextField: "text",
                dataValueField: "value",
                dataSource: days,
                filter: "contains",
                value: [
                { text: "First", value: "1" },

            ]
            });

var days = [
    { text: "First", value: "1" },
    { text: "Second", value: "2" },
    { text: "Third", value: "3" },
    { text: "Fourth", value: "4" },
    { text: "Fifth", value: "5" }

            ];

A:

Because you have configured the dataValueField: "value" in the value array you need to provide the value property values of the days objects.
So you just need to write value: [ "1" ]:
$("#days").kendoMultiSelect({
                dataTextField: "text",
                dataValueField: "value",
                dataSource: days,
                filter: "contains",
                value: [ "1" ]
});

Demo JSFiddle.

A:

In case you are using server side binding, you can do this...
 @(Html.Kendo().MultiSelect()
               .Name("RolesVisibleToMultiSelect")
               .Placeholder("Select Roles...")
               .DataValueField("RoleId")
               .DataTextField("RoleName")
               .BindTo(Model.RequestDiscussion.RolesVisibleTo)
               .Value(Model.RequestDiscussion.RolesVisibleTo.Select(r => r.RoleId).ToArray()))

