enabled

The enabled() method, called without any parameters, will return the current enabled state of a DropDown element.
The enabled(bool) method is used to update a DropDown‘s enabled/disabled state. Passing true will enable and false will disable the widget.

<select id="ddl"></select>

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function () {
        $("#ddl").shieldDropDown({
            dataSource: {
                data: countries
            },
            enabled: false,
            textTemplate: "{name}",
            valueTemplate: "{code}"
        });

        $("#ddl").swidget().enabled(); // returns false
   
        $("#ddl").swidget().enabled(true); // enable the widget
   
        $("#ddl").swidget().enabled(); // returns true
    });
</script>