If I add a default drop down editor to a document type with prevalues for the option text, when editing the document, Umbraco adds values automatically eg

<select>
<option value="1">Option AAA</option>
<option value="2">Option BBB</option>
<option value="3">Option CCC</option>
</select>

which is as expected. When I output this field say in a template,

@Umbraco.Field("myDropdown").ToString()

it neatly outputs the text eg

"Option BBB"

even though what is stored in the database table (cmsPropertyData) is the value

eg "2".

However I have created a custom property editor dropdown (for various reasons) and allowed the prevalues to define the value that should be stored as well as the text.

In the document editor I see the dropdown as it should be eg

<select>
<option value="10">Custom dropdown : Option DDD</option>
<option value="20">Custom dropdown : Option EEE</option>
<option value="30">Custom dropdown : Option FFF</option>
</select>

and it correctly stores the value to the database. So far so good.

But, when I output to a template

Umbraco.Field("myCustomDropdown")

instead of seeing the text eg

"Custom dropdown : Option EEE"

I see the stored value eg "30"

I am not entirely surprised.

My question : how does the Umbraco built in dropdown do the conversion from value to text on the fly and can I reproduce this for my custom drop down, otherwise I am going to have to hard code conversions every time I use this control. There must be some code on the built in editor somewhere? Can I pinch sorry refactor this?

I hope this makes sense.