In s:select , I am using hashmap to populate the selection box. I want the first element from the hashmap to be preselected in the selectionbox. I know that I should give this value in headerkey and headerValue. I can have 2 more string properties in Action and populate them in action and use it here. Is there any alternative way ? Here is my tag: <s:select label="something" list="countries" headerKey="${countries.key}" headerValue="${countries.value}" name="selectedCountry" emptyOption="false"/>