MVC3 DropDownListFor - a simple example?

Question

I'm having trouble with DropDownListFor in my MVC3 app. I was able to use StackOverflow to figure out how to get them to appear on the View, but now I don't know how to capture the values in its corresponding properties on the View Model when it's submitted. In order to get this to work I had to create an inner class that had an ID and a value property, then I had to use an IEnumerable<Contrib> to satisfy the DropDownListFor parameter requirements. Now, however, how is MVC FW supposed to map the value that is selected on this drop-down back into the simple string property on my view model?

public class MyViewModelClass
{
    public class Contrib
    {
        public int ContribId { get; set; }
        public string Value { get; set; }
    }

    public IEnumerable<Contrib> ContribTypeOptions = 
        new List<Contrib>
        {
            new Contrib {ContribId = 0, Value = "Payroll Deduction"},
            new Contrib {ContribId = 1, Value = "Bill Me"}
        };

    [DisplayName("Contribution Type")]
    public string ContribType { get; set; }
}

In my View I place the dropdown on the page like this:

<div class="editor-label">
    @Html.LabelFor(m => m.ContribType)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
    @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ContribTypeOptions.First().ContribId, 
             new SelectList(Model.ContribTypeOptions, "ContribId", "Value"))
</div>

When I submit the form the ContribType is (of course) null.

What is the correct way to do this?

score 166 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 19 '17 at 04:02

166

You should do like this:

@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ContribType, 
                new SelectList(Model.ContribTypeOptions, 
                               "ContribId", "Value"))

Where:

m => m.ContribType

is a property where the result value will be.

edited Mar 19 '17 at 04:02

bwegs

3,769
2
30
33

answered Aug 22 '11 at 05:52

Sergey Gavruk

3,538
2
20
31

2

THANK YOU!!! Sergey, this is exactly what I have been looking for for many hours. – Trey Carroll Aug 22 '11 at 06:37
Thanks :) for your answer Is there any way to show "-- Select--" from here. ? – kbvishnu Aug 17 '12 at 17:19
1

@VeeKeyBee, you can add new item to the list `contribTypeOptions`, for example `new Contrib {ContribId = -1, Value = "Please Select"}` and it will be shown in dropdown list. Than you can check if `ContribType` is `-1` this is means that user haven't selected any value – Sergey Gavruk Aug 18 '12 at 19:30
that the way I am just doing .. But for dropdownlist we can give some options – kbvishnu Aug 18 '12 at 20:52
9

You can do this: `@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ContribType, new SelectList(Model.ContribTypeOptions, "ContribId", "Value", Model.ContribTypeOptions.First().ContribId), "Select, please")` – Sergey Gavruk Oct 06 '12 at 17:40
1

@SergeyGavruk. This answer has been used as a dupe on a few recent questions but is confusing some users because of the statement _And the last param of Select list constructor is a selected value_ - The last parameter is ignored by the method (which internally builds its own `SelectList`). Its the value of the property (`ContribType`) which determines what is selected (that's how model binding works) and the code should just be `@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ContribType, new SelectList(Model.ContribTypeOptions, "ContribId", "Value")` Can you please edit the answer to correct. – Oct 23 '16 at 22:12
Can anyone please let me know how to use this solution when dropdown values are coming from database? – Darshana Oct 09 '20 at 06:43

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 14 '13 at 13:18

For binding Dynamic Data in a DropDownList you can do the following:

Create ViewBag in Controller like below

ViewBag.ContribTypeOptions = yourFunctionValue();

now use this value in view like below:

@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ContribType, 
    new SelectList(@ViewBag.ContribTypeOptions, "ContribId", 
                   "Value", Model.ContribTypeOptions.First().ContribId), 
    "Select, please")

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 02 '15 at 14:40

6

I think this will help : In Controller get the list items and selected value

public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
    ItemsStore item = itemStoreRepository.FindById(id);
    ViewBag.CategoryId = new SelectList(categoryRepository.Query().Get(), 
                                        "Id", "Name",item.CategoryId);

    // ViewBag to pass values to View and SelectList
    //(get list of items,valuefield,textfield,selectedValue)

    return View(item);
}

and in View

@Html.DropDownList("CategoryId",String.Empty)

edited Jun 02 '15 at 14:40

Tommy Grovnes

4,126
2
25
40

answered Nov 14 '13 at 12:33

Praveen M P

11,314
7
34
41

5

It's usually not a god pattern to expose your repository to the View like this. – Andre Pena Jun 21 '14 at 12:31

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 20 '18 at 18:16

0

     @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.SelectedValue,Your List,"ID","Values")

Here Value is that object of model where you want to save your Selected Value

answered Jan 20 '18 at 18:16

Abdul Aleem

13
3

MVC3 DropDownListFor - a simple example?

4 Answers4

Linked

Related