ViewModel with SelectList binding in ASP.NET MVC2
- by Junto
I am trying to implement an Edit ViewModel for my Linq2SQL entity called Product. It has a foreign key linked to a list of brands.
Currently I am populating the brand list via ViewData and using DropDownListFor, thus:
<div class="editor-field">
<%= Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.BrandId, (SelectList)ViewData["Brands"])%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.BrandId) %>
</div>
Now I want to refactor the view to use a strongly typed ViewModel and Html.EditorForModel():
<% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%>
<%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %>
<fieldset>
<legend>Fields</legend>
<%=Html.EditorForModel() %>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
</p>
</fieldset>
<% } %>
In my Edit ViewModel, I have the following:
public class EditProductViewModel
{
[HiddenInput]
public int ProductId { get; set; }
[Required()]
[StringLength(200)]
public string Name { get; set; }
[Required()]
[DataType(DataType.Html)]
public string Description { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Brands { get; set; }
public int BrandId { get; set; }
public EditProductViewModel(Product product, IEnumerable<SelectListItem> brands)
{
this.ProductId = product.ProductId;
this.Name = product.Name;
this.Description = product.Description;
this.Brands = brands;
this.BrandId = product.BrandId;
}
}
The controller is setup like so:
public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
BrandRepository br = new BrandRepository();
Product p = _ProductRepository.Get(id);
IEnumerable<SelectListItem> brands = br.GetAll().ToList().ToSelectListItems(p.BrandId);
EditProductViewModel model = new EditProductViewModel(p, brands);
return View("Edit", model);
}
The ProductId, Name and Description display correctly in the generated view, but the select list does not. The brand list definitely contains data.
If I do the following in my view, the SelectList is visible:
<% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%>
<%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %>
<fieldset>
<legend>Fields</legend>
<%=Html.EditorForModel() %>
<div class="editor-label">
<%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.BrandId) %>
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
<%= Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.BrandId, Model.Brands)%>
<%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.BrandId) %>
</div>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
</p>
</fieldset>
<% } %>
What am I doing wrong? Does EditorForModel() not generically support the SelectList? Am I missing some kind of DataAnnotation?
I can't seem to find any examples of SelectList usage in ViewModels that help. I'm truly stumped. This answer seems to be close, but hasn't helped.
