I have the following drop down list:

<select name=selSS1 id=select_value>

    <option value=val0>sea zero</option>

    <option value=val1>sea one</option>

    <option value=val2>sea two</option>

    <option value=val3>sea three</option>

    <option value=val4>sea four</option>

</select>

I would like to dynamically select a value from that list using javascript:

I tried:

document.getElementById('select_value').selected =val3;

But the above code does not seem to work. Any help is most appreciated.