how to create a complex "Create" ActionResult in MVC

Question

I am very new to MVC and trying to do a project. I have Product model which is created from database. It has the properties like below(I am now writing all properties.)

Product
-------
ID(int)
CODE(string)
CATEGORY_ID(int)

Categories
-------
ID(int)
CODE(string)

I created the Create ActionResult for Product. And since the CATEGORY_ID is integer in the database, Visual Studio created a textbox for CATEGORY_ID. I want it to be dropdownlist which will list all the categories from the Categories table.But when the user click the Save button, it will write integer value of the selected category to Product table.

How can I do that dropdownlist? How can I pass all the categories to the Product's Create ActionResult?

@EhsanSajjad, you are right. I was trying to understand the Model part actually. Should I create a new Model and pass that to the View? — Arif YILMAZ, Mar 25 '15 at 16:14
Take a look at this post: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2167166/asp-net-mvc-viewmodel-and-dropdownlist — David Tansey, Mar 25 '15 at 16:14

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

1

You want to use a ViewModel to shape your DB model to a presentation purpose.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Community

1
1

answered Mar 25 '15 at 16:12

Mike Cole

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 30 '15 at 12:54

In model class Product add following,

[NotMapped]
    public SelectList Categories { get; set; }

in view add

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CategoryID, Model.Categories, "--Select--", new { @id="drpCommodity"})

fill Categories in using following

public static SelectList GetDropDownList<T>(List<T> objects, string value, string text)
    {
        List<SelectListItem> items = new List<SelectListItem>();
        //var defaultItem = new SelectListItem();
        //defaultItem.Value = Convert.ToString(-1);
        //defaultItem.Text = "--Select--";
        //defaultItem.Selected = true;
        //items.Add(defaultItem);

        List<SelectListItem> lst = objects
                .Select(x =>
                        new SelectListItem
                        {
                            Value = x.GetType().GetProperty(value).GetValue(x).ToString(),
                            Text = x.GetType().GetProperty(text).GetValue(x).ToString()
                        }).ToList();

        items.AddRange(lst);
        return new SelectList(items, "Value", "Text");
    }

how to create a complex "Create" ActionResult in MVC

2 Answers2