I have set up a VF page to replace the edit page for a custom object “CompetencyOwner__c”.  The object contains two fields “Region__c” and “Country__c” which I want to be able to let the user change with selectLists.  I have no problem building the selectOption values and making the Country values dependent on the selected Region. My problem is that I don’t understand how to set the default value of the dropdowns based on the current record values of those fields.

I have a getter method to return the list of selectList values to populate the dropdowns. I also have getter and setter methods for the current value of the selection. Here’s an example for the Region field:

  String selectedRegion;  //for selected value

    public List<selectOption> getRegions() {

        List<SelectOption> regionOps=new List<SelectOption>();

        List<Region__c> regionList=[Select Name from Region__c Order by Name];

        for(Region__c r:regionList) {

            regionOps.add(new SelectOption(r.ID,r.Name));

        }

        return regionOps;

    }

    public String getSelectedRegion() {

        return SelectedRegion;

    }

    public void setSelectedRegion(String SelectedRegion)  {

        this.SelectedRegion=SelectedRegion;

    }

Assume I can get the actual record to be edited. How do I set the initial value of the dropdown to the selectOption that corresponds to the record ID or Name?