MVC 3: DropDownList on an Edit Form for an object that is a property of a ViewModel

Question

Overview: I'm trying to use a ViewModel that has a property that is the model class that I'm trying to edit. I've seen the edit form work using the MVC scaffolding edit forms when editing a model directly, however I am trying to use a ViewModel that contains the model being edited. Everything works except for the saving of a field that's displayed in a DropDownList. Explanation: I've attempted to use the scaffolding features of MVC 3 to create an edit form for a model. In the MVC Music Store tutorial, this is done for the Edit page of an `Album`, in the `StoreManagerController`. Within that page, they have two drop downs for Genre and Artist. Each looks similar to this in the view:- ```

@Html.LabelFor(model => model.GenreId, "Genre")

@Html.DropDownList("GenreId", String.Empty) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.GenreId)

``` As far as I can tell, these have their options filled out in the controller using the Vi…

Accepted Answer

It's your `DropDownList` declaration that's incorrect. Try this instead:

```
@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.season.ClubId, ViewBag.ClubId)
```

But really, you should put that select list in your model:

```
public SelectList Clubs { get; set; }
```

Then populate it in your controller:

```
Model.Clubs = new SelectList(clubs, "ClubId", "Name", season.ClubId);
```

Then you can do:

```
@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.season.ClubId, Model.Clubs)
```

MVC 3: DropDownList on an Edit Form for an object that is a property of a ViewModel

Solution

Problem