How can I reuse a DropDownList in several views with .NET MVC

Question

Several views from my project have the same dropdownlist...

So, in the ViewModel from that view I have :

public IEnumerable Fo         


        

Answer 1

What about a Prepare method in a BaseController?

public class BaseController : Controller
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Prepares a new MyVM by filling the common properties.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>A MyVM.</returns>
    protected MyVM PrepareViewModel()
    {
        return new MyVM()
        {
            FooDll = GetFooSelectList();
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Prepares the specified MyVM by filling the common properties.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="myVm">The MyVM.</param>
    /// <returns>A MyVM.</returns>
    protected MyVM PrepareViewModel(MyVM myVm)
    {
        myVm.FooDll = GetFooSelectList();
        return myVm;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Fetches the foos from the database and creates a SelectList.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns>A collection of SelectListItems.</returns>
    private IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GetFooSelectList()
    {
        return fooRepository.GetAll().ToSelectList(foo => foo.Id, foo => x.Name);
    }
}

You can use this methods in the controller:

public class HomeController : BaseController
{
    public ActionResult ActionX()
    {
        // Creates a new MyVM.
        MyVM myVm = PrepareViewModel();     
    }

    public ActionResult ActionY()
    {
        // Update an existing MyVM object.
        var myVm = new MyVM
                       {
                           Property1 = "Value 1",
                           Property2 = DateTime.Now
                       };
        PrepareViewModel(myVm);
    }
}