Populate SelectList in ASP.NET MVC with enum [duplicate]

Question

I have an enumeration in my Data layer and I want to use its drop down list in my website project. My enum in Data layer is:

namespace SME.DAL.Entities.Enums
{
    public enum EntityState
    {
        Open,
        Freezed,
        Canceled,
        Completed,
        Terminated,
        ReadOnly
    }
}

How can I make its select list and use it in my website's page? I'm using ASP.NET MVC 4.

Meraz

The way I see it, you have 3 options: create a SelectList in your Action and pass it to the view or create a custom Html helper to do that or create a template for Enum in which you dynamically create the dropdown. The links posted in the answers bellow provide all the information needed to accomplish each of your options. – Kerman

Answer 1

Simple example:

Controller:

public ViewResult SomeFilterAction()
{      
var EntityState = new SelectList(Enum.GetValues(typeof(EntityState)).Cast<EntityState>().Select(v => new SelectListItem
         {
             Text = v.ToString(),
             Value = ((int)v).ToString()
         }).ToList(),"Value","Text");
return View(EntityState)
}

View:

  @model System.Web.Mvc.SelectList
  @Html.DropDownList("selectedEntityState",Model)

Relation

If you move this logic inside a Html helper or even a template, you don't have to explicitly call the action every time your need an "enum dropdown". – Kerman

Answer 2

Well, if you were using MVC 5.1, they recently added a helper to create dropdowns from Enums. However, since you're using MVC 4 you will have to hack something together.

There are some examples out there, and this has been answered many times already on this site if you had searched for it.

How do you create a dropdownlist from an enum in ASP.NET MVC?

Rabideau