How to create Select List for Country and States/province in MVC

Question

Hi I am new to MVC and even asp..

I want to create a form in MVC. With the help of some examples I am able to create TextBoxes, but I now I don\'t understand how to

Answer 1

So many ways to do this... for #NetCore use Lib..

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq; // only required when .AsEnumerable() is used
    using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
    using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Rendering;

Model...

namespace MyProject.Models
{
  public class MyModel
  {
    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "State")]
    public string StatePick { get; set; }
    public string state { get; set; }
    [StringLength(35, ErrorMessage = "State cannot be longer than 35 characters.")]
    public SelectList StateList { get; set; }
  }
}

Controller...

namespace MyProject.Controllers
{
    /// <summary>
    /// create SelectListItem from strings
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="isValue">defaultValue is SelectListItem.Value is true, SelectListItem.Text if false</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private SelectListItem newItem(string value, string text, string defaultValue = "", bool isValue = false)
    {
        SelectListItem ss = new SelectListItem();
        ss.Text = text;
        ss.Value = value;

        // select default by Value or Text
        if (isValue && ss.Value == defaultValue || !isValue && ss.Text == defaultValue)
        {
            ss.Selected = true;
        }

        return ss;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// this pulls the state name from _context and sets it as the default for the selectList
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="myState">sets default value for list of states</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    private SelectList getStateList(string myState = "")
    {
        List<SelectListItem> states = new List<SelectListItem>();
        SelectListItem chosen = new SelectListItem();

        // set default selected state to OHIO
        string defaultValue = "OH";
        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(myState))
        {
            defaultValue = myState;
        }

        try
        {
            states.Add(newItem("AL", "Alabama", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("AK", "Alaska", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("AZ", "Arizona", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("AR", "Arkansas", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("CA", "California", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("CO", "Colorado", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("CT", "Connecticut", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("DE", "Delaware", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("DC", "District of Columbia", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("FL", "Florida", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("GA", "Georgia", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("HI", "Hawaii", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("ID", "Idaho", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("IL", "Illinois", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("IN", "Indiana", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("IA", "Iowa", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("KS", "Kansas", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("KY", "Kentucky", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("LA", "Louisiana", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("ME", "Maine", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MD", "Maryland", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MA", "Massachusetts", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MI", "Michigan", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MN", "Minnesota", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MS", "Mississippi", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MO", "Missouri", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("MT", "Montana", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NE", "Nebraska", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NV", "Nevada", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NH", "New Hampshire", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NJ", "New Jersey", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NM", "New Mexico", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NY", "New York", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("NC", "North Carolina", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("ND", "North Dakota", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("OH", "Ohio", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("OK", "Oklahoma", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("OR", "Oregon", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("PA", "Pennsylvania", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("RI", "Rhode Island", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("SC", "South Carolina", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("SD", "South Dakota", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("TN", "Tennessee", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("TX", "Texas", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("UT", "Utah", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("VT", "Vermont", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("VA", "Virginia", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("WA", "Washington", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("WV", "West Virginia", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("WI", "Wisconsin", defaultValue, true));
            states.Add(newItem("WY", "Wyoming", defaultValue, true));

            foreach (SelectListItem state in states)
            {
                if (state.Selected)
                {
                    chosen = state;
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception err)
        {
            string ss = "ERR!   " + err.Source + "   " + err.GetType().ToString() + "\r\n" + err.Message.Replace("\r\n", "   ");
            ss = this.sendError("Online getStateList Request", ss, _errPassword);
            // return error
        }

        // .AsEnumerable() is not required in the pass.. it is an extension of Linq
        SelectList myList = new SelectList(states.AsEnumerable(), "Value", "Text", chosen);

        object val = myList.SelectedValue;

        return myList;
    }

    public ActionResult pickState(MyModel pData)
    {
        if (pData.StateList == null)
        {
            if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(pData.StatePick)) // state abbrev, value collected onchange
            {
                pData.StateList = getStateList();
            }
            else
            {
                pData.StateList = getStateList(pData.StatePick);
            }

            // assign values to state list items
            try
            {
                SelectListItem si = (SelectListItem)pData.StateList.SelectedValue;
                pData.state = si.Value;
                pData.StatePick = si.Value;
            }
            catch { }
        } 
    return View(pData);
    }
}

pickState.cshtml...

@model MyProject.Models.MyModel

@{
ViewBag.Title = "United States of America";
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
<h2>@ViewBag.Title - Where are you...</h2>

@using (Html.BeginForm()) {
@Html.AntiForgeryToken()
@Html.ValidationSummary(true)

<fieldset>

    <div class="editor-label">
        @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.state)
    </div>
    <div class="display-field">            
        @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.StatePick, Model.StateList, new { OnChange = "state.value = this.value;" })
        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.state)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.StateList)
    </div>         
</fieldset>
}

<div>
@Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index")
</div>