select the value to populate html.dropdownlist - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

I have two classes as follows
public class ODCTE_Major
{
public int ODCTE_MajorId { get; set; }
public string OfficialMajorName { get; set; }
public string MajorCode { get; set; }
... More unrelated code ....
}
AND
public class CareerMajor
{
...lots of unrealted code to this question left out
public int ODCTE_MajorId { get; set; }
public virtual ODCTE_Major ODCTE_Major { get; set; }
}
I added a controller with CRUD methods and in the create.cshtml there is this line
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.DropDownList("ODCTE_MajorId", String.Empty)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ODCTE_MajorId)
</div>
The select list populates it with the OfficialMajorName from ODCTE_Major. I need the select list to populate with the MajorCode or a value that looks like MajorCode - OfficialMajorName.
Could someone provide assistance for how this is done, please?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Add this to ODCTE_Major:
public string MajorDisplayName
{
get { return string.Format("{0} - {1}", MajorCode, OfficialMajorName); }
}
This is just a read only property used to create the display text in the format you want the menu to use.
Then in CareerMajor, add:
public IEnumerable<ODCTE_Major> Majors{ set; get; } // Thank you Shyju!
This will give you a place in your view model to pass the list of Majors you want in your menu to the view.
Then in your action method when you're creating a CareerMajor view model to send to the view, populate the new IEnumberable with the ODCTE_Major entities you'd like displayed in your menu.
On the view page:
#Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.ODCTE_MajorId, new SelectList(Model.Majors, "ODCTE_MajorId", "MajorDisplayName", Model.ODCTE_MajorId), "Select One")
This creates a SelectList to populate the drop down with. The SelectList constructor is saying use ODCTE_MajorId as the value for a SelectListItem in the menu, and to use MajorDisplayName as the text to actually display in the menu. It sets the selected value, if there is one, and adds a null item with the text "Select One" to the top of the menu. Feel free to take that final argument out if you don't want the null text.

Answer 2

Have your ViewModel hold a Collection property to represent all available Majors (for poulating the Dropdown)
public class CareerMajor
{
//other proiperties
public int ODCTE_MajorId { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<ODCTE_Major> Majors{ set; get; }
}
And in your GET Action, fill it and send it to your strongly typed view
pubilc ACtionResult Create()
{
var viewModel=new CareerMajor();
viewModel.Majors=db.GetllAllMajors(); // getting a list of ODCTE_Major objects
return View(viewModel);
}
and in the View, use the DropDownListFor HTML Helper method.
#model CareerMajor
#Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.DropDownListFor(m=>m.ODCTE_MajorId,
new SelectList(Model.Majors,"ODCTE_MajorId ","MajorCode"),"select one..")
//other elements
}

Answer 3

In your controller action:
ViewBag.ODCTE_MajorId = new SelectList(availableMajors, "ODCTE_MajorId", "MajorCode");
*second and third parameters are the names of the value and text fields respectively
Then in your view:
#Html.DropDownList("ODCTE_MajorId", String.Empty)
where availableMajors is an IEnumerable that contains the majors you want to list.