Selected Dropdown using HTML Helpers in mvc 4

Question

I need to select the dropdown in html helper. I pass my data in IEnumerable using ViewData please some one help me how to select it with value.

My Code is

Answer 1

If your ViewData["Brand"] contains an object IEnumerable, I guess you have already used its constructor or more likely Object Initializer, e.g.:

List brand = new List()
{
   new { Value = 1 , Text = "something 1"  },
   new { Value = 2 , Text = "something 2"  },
   new { Value = 3 , Text = "something 3"  },
};
ViewData["Brand"] = brand;

In your View, you use the list as a second parameter for DropDownList helper. You also need to provide what its Value and Text. The last parameter indicates which value is to be selected by default:

@Html.DopDownList("Brand",
    (List)ViewData["Brand"],
    "value", "text", 2)

You could also try SelectList container to "fill" the DropDownList helper. Simply send your list of Objects to view in ViewData etc., and use it as a second parameter. Then provide Value and Text as the third and the fourth parameters, respectively. The last parameter corresponds to the value of your selected item in the list.

@Html.DropDownList("Brand", new SelectList(
    Model.ListOfYourObjects,
    "<<< Property name as value in the Object, e.g. ID",
    "<<< Property name as text in the Object, e.g. Name/Title/etc.",
    <<< value of thecurrent ID >>>));

e.g.

public class City
{
    public int ID { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Then

ViewData["Cities"] = dbContext.Cities.ToList();
//or
ViewData["Cities"] = new List(); // fill this list

In a view:

@model List
// ...
@Html.DropDownList(
    "Brand",
    new SelectList(
        Model, "ID", "Name",
        <<< value of ID to be selected or null>>>
    )
);

ID and Name are property names in the class City which is important here in order for SelectList to work.

I couldn't try this code but this should give you something to work with. Hope it can help.