Using the setblock command in a commandblock I tryed to spawn a dropper facing west, witch I believe I should be able to with a command like this: /setblock ~-1 ~5 ~ minecraft:dropper 4
or
/setblock ~-1 ~5 ~ 158 4

What happended: The dropper is facing south.
I then tryed changing the last number (meta data or what its called) to other numbers like 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 and so on. Still it was facing South.
I then changed where it should spawn it to right besides the commandblock, here it faced away from the block, no matter the last number and no matter on which side of the block. This i tryed in the air as well, besides a floating piece of dirt. It will always face away from the block and if no blocks are nearby it will face south, if it is spawned between to blocks, it will face south. No matter on which sides these two blocks are on. Blocks on top and under the target area is however ignored.
I also tryed this on Dispensers since i needed something i could controll with redstone to transfer an item into a hopper.

What I expected to happend: The dropper would face in west.