ViewBag multiple SelectList for dropdown list

asp.net-mvc-3, selectlist, viewbag

Solution

This is how I would have done it..

I would suggest that you don't send your domain models to the view, but rather create a view model for each view. Doing it this way you will only include what is needed on the screen.

Create a new view model for your Create view:

public class ProductCreateViewModel
{
     // Include other properties if needed, these are just for demo purposes

     public string Name { get; set; }
     public string SKU { get; set; }
     public string LongDescription { get; set; }

     // This is the unique identifier of your category,
     // i.e. foreign key in your product table
     public int CategoryId { get; set; }
     // This is a list of all your categories populated from your category table
     public IEnumerable<Category> Categories { get; set; }

     // This is the unique identifier of your model,
     // i.e. foreign key in your product table
     public int ModelId { get; set; }
     // This is a list of all your models populated from your model table
     public IEnumerable<Model> Models { get; set; }
}

Category class:

public class Category
{
     public int Id { get; set; }
     public string Name { get; set; }
}

Model class:

public class Model
{
     public int Id { get; set; }
     public string Name { get; set; }
}

In your Create view you would have the following:

@model MyProject.ViewModels.ProductCreateViewModel

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
     <table>
          <tr>
               <td><b>Category:</b></td>
               <td>
                    @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.CategoryId,
                         new SelectList(Model.Categories, "Id", "Name", Model.CategoryId),
                         "-- Select --"
                    )
                    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.CategoryId)
               </td>
          </tr>
          <tr>
               <td><b>Model:</b></td>
               <td>
                    @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.ModelId,
                         new SelectList(Model.Models, "Id", "Name", Model.ModelId),
                         "-- Select --"
                    )
                    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.ModelId)
               </td>
          </tr>
     </table>

     <!-- Add other HTML controls if required and your submit button -->
}

Your Create action methods:

public ActionResult Create()
{
     ProductCreateViewModel viewModel = new ProductCreateViewModel
     {
          // Here you do database calls to populate your dropdowns
          Categories = categoryService.GetAllCategories(),
          Models = modelService.GetAllModels()
     };

     return View(viewModel);
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(ProductCreateViewModel viewModel)
{
     // Check that viewModel is not null

     if (!ModelState.IsValid)
     {
          viewModel.Categories = categoryService.GetAllCategories();
          viewModel.Models = modelService.GetAllModels();

          return View(viewModel);
     }

     // Mapping
     Product product = ...  // Do your mapping here

     // Insert product in database
     productService.Insert(product);

     // Return the view where you need to be
}

I would also recommend that you use AutoMapper to do the mappings for you between your domain model and view model. I would also recommend that you look at Fluent Validation to take care of your view model validations.

I hope this helps.

UPDATED ANSWER

The service that was used to get all the categories could look like this:

public class CategoryService : ICategoryService
{
     private readonly ICategoryRepository categoryRepository;

     public CategoryService(ICategoryRepository categoryRepository)
     {
          // Check if category repository is not null, throw exception if it is

          this.categoryRepository = categoryRepository;
     }

     public IEnumerable<Category> GetAllCategories()
     {
          return categoryRepository.GetAllCategories();
     }
}

categoryRepository is injected by Autofac.

Category service interface:

public interface ICategoryService
{
     IEnumerable<Category> GetAllCategories();
}

I currently still use `Entity Framework 4.1` code first.

My category repository:

public class CategoryRepository : ICategoryRepository
{
     MyContext db = new MyContext();

     public IEnumerable<Category> GetAllCategories()
     {
          return db.Categories
               .OrderBy(x => x.Name);
     }
}

My category repository interface:

public interface ICategoryRepository
{
     IEnumerable<Category> GetAllCategories()
}

Problem

Original source