How do you bind an Enum to a DropDownList control in ASP.NET?

Question

Let\'s say I have the following simple enum:

enum Response
{
    Yes = 1,
    No = 2,
    Maybe = 3
}

How can I bind this enum to a DropDow

Answer 1

I use this for ASP.NET MVC:

Html.DropDownListFor(o => o.EnumProperty, Enum.GetValues(typeof(enumtype)).Cast<enumtype>().Select(x => new SelectListItem { Text = x.ToString(), Value = ((int)x).ToString() }))

Answer 2

You could use linq:

var responseTypes= Enum.GetNames(typeof(Response)).Select(x => new { text = x, value = (int)Enum.Parse(typeof(Response), x) });
    DropDownList.DataSource = responseTypes;
    DropDownList.DataTextField = "text";
    DropDownList.DataValueField = "value";
    DropDownList.DataBind();

Answer 3

This is probably an old question.. but this is how I did mine.

Model:

public class YourEntity
{
   public int ID { get; set; }
   public string Name{ get; set; }
   public string Description { get; set; }
   public OptionType Types { get; set; }
}

public enum OptionType
{
    Unknown,
    Option1, 
    Option2,
    Option3
}

Then in the View: here's how to use populate the dropdown.

@Html.EnumDropDownListFor(model => model.Types, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "form-control" })

This should populate everything in your enum list. Hope this helps..

Answer 4

I am not sure how to do it in ASP.NET but check out this post... it might help?

Enum.GetValues(typeof(Response));

Answer 5

public enum Color
{
    RED,
    GREEN,
    BLUE
}

Every Enum type derives from System.Enum. There are two static methods that help bind data to a drop-down list control (and retrieve the value). These are Enum.GetNames and Enum.Parse. Using GetNames, you are able to bind to your drop-down list control as follows:

protected System.Web.UI.WebControls.DropDownList ddColor;

private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
     if(!IsPostBack)
     {
        ddColor.DataSource = Enum.GetNames(typeof(Color));
        ddColor.DataBind();
     }
}

Now if you want the Enum value Back on Selection ....

  private void ddColor_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
  {
    Color selectedColor = (Color)Enum.Parse(typeof(Color),ddColor.SelectedValue
  }

Answer 6

If you would like to have a more user friendly description in your combo box (or other control) you can use the Description attribute with the following function:

    public static object GetEnumDescriptions(Type enumType)
    {
        var list = new List<KeyValuePair<Enum, string>>();
        foreach (Enum value in Enum.GetValues(enumType))
        {
            string description = value.ToString();
            FieldInfo fieldInfo = value.GetType().GetField(description);
            var attribute = fieldInfo.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false).First();
            if (attribute != null)
            {
                description = (attribute as DescriptionAttribute).Description;
            }
            list.Add(new KeyValuePair<Enum, string>(value, description));
        }
        return list;
    }

Here is an example of an enum with Description attributes applied:

    enum SampleEnum
    {
        NormalNoSpaces,
        [Description("Description With Spaces")]
        DescriptionWithSpaces,
        [Description("50%")]
        Percent_50,
    }

Then Bind to control like so...

        m_Combo_Sample.DataSource = GetEnumDescriptions(typeof(SampleEnum));
        m_Combo_Sample.DisplayMember = "Value";
        m_Combo_Sample.ValueMember = "Key";

This way you can put whatever text you want in the drop down without it having to look like a variable name