How to Use DropDownList Helper in MVC Application

Introduction

This article shows how to use the dropdownlist helper in MVC applications.

Create an ASP.Net MVC 4 Web Application

Figure 1 Web Application

Choose Internet Application

Figure 2 Internet Application

Add an EmployeeController

Figure 3 Add EmployeeController

Set up an Entity Framework

Figure 4 Entity Framework

Figure 5 Data Connection

Figure 6 Data Connection Object

Employeecontroller.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using DropDownListApp_MVC.Models;
namespace DropDownListApp_MVC.Controllers
{
public class EmployeeController : Controller
{
//
// GET: /Employee/
EmployeeEntities objEmployeeEntities = new EmployeeEntities();
public ActionResult Index()
{
ViewBag.List = new SelectList(objEmployeeEntities.Departments.Select(r => r.DepartmentName));
return View();
}
public ActionResult Index1()
{
List<SelectListItem> items = new List<SelectListItem>();
items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "IT", Value = "0" });
items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "HR", Value = "1" });
items.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "Management", Value = "2" });
ViewBag.List = items;
return View();
}
public ActionResult Index2()
{
return View();
}
}
}

Adding View

Figure 7 Add View

Index.cshtml

Index1.cshtml

Index2.cshtml

The output of the application as in the following screenshot.

Figure 8 Output 1

Figure 9 Output 2

Figure 10 Output3

Summary

In this article we saw how to use a dropdownlist helper in MVC applications.

Happy coding.