How can I bind CountryNames in DropDownListFor

Question

I'm using mvc4. How can I Bind CuntryName and its values in DropdownList Country?

public class Country
{
    public int Cnt_Id { get; set; }
    public string Cnt_Name { get; set; }
}

This is my private class

public class HybridEmployee
{
    public IEnumerable<Country> GetCount { get; set; }
}

Controller

public ActionResult GetCountry()
{
    var x = ObjRepo.GetCountry();
    hybrid.GetCount = x;
    return View(hybrid);
}

Index.cshtml

@model  Mvc_Application.Models.HybridEmployee
@using Mvc_Application.Models
@using (Html.BeginForm("SaveEmp", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
{
    @Html.DropDownListFor(x=>x.GetCount.FirstOrDefault().Cnt_Id),new SelectList(Model.GetCount,"","");
}

`new SelectList(Model.GetCount,"Cnt_Id","Cnt_Name")` but you also have your parenthesis wrong, and you cannot use `x=>x.GetCount.FirstOrDefault().Cnt_Id` - not only does it not make sense, it wont bind to anything anyway. You need a property to bind to, say `public int SelectedCountry { get; set; }` — , Oct 02 '17 at 07:46
Suggest you refer the code in [this question/answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34366305/the-viewdata-item-that-has-the-key-xxx-is-of-type-system-int32-but-must-be-o) to understand how to create and bind to a dropdownlist — , Oct 02 '17 at 07:48
Also see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3057873/how-to-write-a-simple-html-dropdownlistfor to find out how `DropDownListFor` model binding works - the first argument must not use LINQ with lambda expression, but a property from viewmodel that holding selected value. — Tetsuya Yamamoto, Oct 02 '17 at 07:52

Reyan Chougle · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-02T08:44:30.390

1

We can have two approaches as shown below:

Using a ViewBag containing the data for dropdown list.

Model file:

public class State
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public int CountryID { get; set; }
}

In .cs file:

ViewBag.Countries = countryService.All().Select(x => new SelectListItem() { Text = x.Name, Value = x.Id.ToString() }).ToList();

In .cshtml file:

@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.CountryID, ViewBag.Countries as IEnumerable<SelectListItem>, "Select Country", new { @class = "form-control" })

Using a Model's property containing the data for dropdown list.

Model file:

public class State
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required]
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public int CountryID { get; set; }

    public List<SelectListItem> Countries { get; set; }
}

In .cs file:

model.Countries = countryService.All().Select(x => new SelectListItem() { Text = x.Name, Value = x.Id.ToString() }).ToList();

In .cshtml file:

@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.CountryID, Model.Countries, "Select Country", new { @class = "form-control" })

edited Oct 02 '17 at 08:44

answered Oct 02 '17 at 07:55

Reyan Chougle

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Thank u soo much @Reyan – Oct 02 '17 at 07:58
Recommending using `ViewBag` rather than a view model which OP already has is dreadful advice – Oct 02 '17 at 08:02
Except that `int CountryID` and `IEnumerable Countries` should be in OP's `HybridEmployee` class (not sure what your `State` class is - it has nothing to do with OP's question) – Oct 02 '17 at 08:43
@StephenMuecke State class is an example. I thought you would be able to understand it. – Reyan Chougle Oct 02 '17 at 08:45

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '17 at 07:59

This expression totally doesn't makes sense:

@Html.DropDownListFor(x=>x.GetCount.FirstOrDefault().Cnt_Id),new SelectList(Model.GetCount,"","");

The first argument of DropDownListFor helper (Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression) doesn't use LINQ expression, it is model binding expression - you must use a property to hold selected value instead. The drop down list binding should be used like this:

Model

public class Country
{
    public int Cnt_Id { get; set; }
    public string Cnt_Name { get; set; }
    public int SelectedCountry { get; set; } // additional property to get selected value
}

View

@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedCountry, new SelectList(Model.GetCount, "Cnt_Id", "Cnt_Value"), null)

How can I bind CountryNames in DropDownListFor

2 Answers2