Where to load dropdown list

Question

Where to load dropdown list of country list in MVC Asp.net? Should we populate the dropdown in controller or in model itself? Any example.

You might wanna search SO first. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18382311/populating-a-razor-dropdownlist-from-a-listobject-in-mvc — Mad Dog Tannen, Jan 24 '19 at 13:36
I would always suggest to populate the dropdown in the controller — JamesS, Jan 24 '19 at 14:20

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 24 '19 at 14:10

0

you should pass the list to view model from controller action and populate it in the razor view.you can find more at the following link http://www.tutorialsteacher.com/mvc/htmlhelper-dropdownlist-dropdownlistfor

answered Jan 24 '19 at 14:10

Usama Kiyani

195
10

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 24 '19 at 14:23

It depends, for example if you store countries in your database, its probably better to build the SelectList in your controller action:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    var countries = db.Countries.ToList();      // get your countries
    var model = new CountryViewModel();
    model.Countries = new SelectList(countries,"Id","Name");
    return View(model);
}

I guess your CountryViewModel can look like this:

public class CountryViewModel{
   public SelectList Countries {get;set;}
   public int CountryId {get;set;}
}

Then in your view you can show the DropDown:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CountryId, Model.Countries, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "form-control" })

If it is a static list you can populate it in the model itself:

public class CountryViewModel{
   public SelectList Countries {get;set;}
   public int CountryId {get;set;}

   public CountryViewModel{
       Countries = new SelectList(GetCountriesFormSomeGlobalPlace(),"Id","Name");
   }
}

Generally, do not use your code first models in your views (if you are using code first that is), but rather use ViewModel POCOs.

Where to load dropdown list

2 Answers2