diff --git a/src/web/HTMLIngredient.mjs b/src/web/HTMLIngredient.mjs
index d8ac9511..c996c51d 100755
--- a/src/web/HTMLIngredient.mjs
+++ b/src/web/HTMLIngredient.mjs
@@ -293,7 +293,9 @@ class HTMLIngredient {
         const op = el.parentNode.parentNode;
         const target = op.querySelectorAll(".arg")[this.target];
 
-        target.value = el.childNodes[el.selectedIndex].getAttribute("populate-value");
+        const popVal = el.childNodes[el.selectedIndex].getAttribute("populate-value");
+        if (popVal !== "") target.value = popVal;
+
         const evt = new Event("change");
         target.dispatchEvent(evt);