How to store and display SelectList data

Question

I am using SelectList to populate dropdownlists in my view. It works for the Create and Edit views to store ID value data in a table. How do I retrieve the 'Name' value to display in a Details view?

Model

Public Class Employee {
 [Key]
 public int ID { get; set;}
 public string UserName {get; set; }
 public byte Gender { get; set; }
}

ViewModel

public class EmployeeEditViewModel {
 public int ID { get; set; }
 public string UserName { get; set; }
 public SelectList GenderList { get; set; }

 public EmployeeEditViewModel () {
        GenderList = CommonHelper.GenderList(null);
    }
}

Helper

 public static SelectList GenderList(object selected)
    {
        return new SelectList(new[]
        {
            new { Value = 0, Name = "Male" },
            new { Value = 1, Name = "Female" }
            }
            , "Value", "Name", selected);
    }

Edit View

@model Models.ViewModel.EmployeeEditViewModel
@using (Html.BeginForm()) {
@Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ID)
<div class="form-group">
    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.UserName, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
    <div class="col-md-10">
        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.UserName, new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.UserName, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
    </div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.GenderList, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
    <div class="col-md-10">
        @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Gender, Model.GenderList, "- Select -", new { htmlAttributes = new { @class = "form-control" } })
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.GenderList, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
    </div>
</div>
}

Controller

[HttpPost]
    public ActionResult CreateEmployee(EmployeeEditViewModel emProfile)
    {
        try
        {
            if (ModelState.IsValid)
            {
                Employee newUser = new Employee();
                newUser.UserName = emProfile.UserName;
                newUser.Gender = emProfile.Gender;

                userRepository.Add(newUser);
                userRepository.SaveChanges();
                return RedirectToAction("Index");
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        { }            
        return View(emProfile);
    }

So far it works great, I am able to create, edit Employee records and 1 or 0 is stored in the table for the gender. But when I want to display the employee data in a details view how do I get the text 'Male' or 'Female'?

Create a DetailsViewModel. You don't need the list, just have a Gender Description that you populate in the controller action. — Steve Greene
Use an Enum since you have integer values for male and female, that way the enum maps correctly without further model creation — Bosco

WaterOnDeck WaterOnDeck · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-21T09:53:37

I ended up creating a helper method to retrieve the text.

public static string GetTextFromSelectList(int id, string listName)
    {
        string selectedText = string.Empty;
        SelectListItem selectedItem;

        switch (listName)
        {
            case "Gender":
                selectedItem = Helper.CommonHelper.GenderList(null).FirstOrDefault(x => x.Value == id.ToString());
                selectedText = selectedItem == null ? null : selectedItem.Text;
                break;                
            default:
                selectedText = null;
                break;
        }
        return selectedText;
    }

How to store and display SelectList data

1 Answers