Using @Html.DropDownList with ViewModel

Question

I have a viewmodel as below :

public class WhItemForm
{
    public virtual WhItem WhItem { get; set; }
    public virtual WhItemStock WhItemStock { get; set; }
}

And in my controller, i use ViewBag to fill the select list as below :

public ActionResult Create()
    {
        ViewBag.WhBrandId = new SelectList(db.WhBrand, "Id", "Name");
        ViewBag.WhStockCardId = new SelectList(db.WhStockCard, "Id", "Name");
        ViewBag.WhLocationId = new SelectList(db.WhLocation, "Id", "Name");
        return View();
    }

I have BrandID property in my WHITEM model, here is my WHITEM model .

public class WhItem
{
    public int Id { get; set; }

    public int WhBrandId { get; set; }
    public virtual WhBrand WhBrand { get; set; }

}

When i post the data from view, i am not able to set WhBrandID, my view as below :

 <div class="form-group">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.WhItem.WhBrandId, "WhBrandId", new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
            <div class="col-md-10">
                @Html.DropDownList("WhBrandId", String.Empty)
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.WhItem.WhBrandId)
            </div>
        </div>

I know, i need to pass this value as WhItem.WhBrandId since i am using viewmodel in my view. I can do this for @html.TextBoxFor but how can i correct my dropdown list to pass its value as WhItem.WhBrandId to the controller.

Regards

Answer 1

First i suggest you edit your controller like this:

    public ActionResult Create()
    {
        ViewBag.SelectList = new List<SelectListItem>
        {
            new SelectListItem{Text = "Text",Value = "Value"},
            new SelectListItem{Text = "Text",Value = "Value"},
            new SelectListItem{Text = "Text",Value = "Value"}
        };

        return View();
    }

After that edit your view to this:

@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.WhItem.WhBrandId, (List<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.SelectList)