Serge Zab's answer was exactly what I was looking for. Being a die hard VB programmer I ported it to this VB module:
'based on Serge Zab's answer on https://mcmap.net/q/296426/-support-for-optgroup-in-dropdownlist-net-mvc
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Linq.Expressions
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Mvc
Imports System.Web.Routing
Public Class GroupedSelectListItem
Inherits SelectListItem
Public Property GroupKey() As String
Get
Return m_GroupKey
End Get
Set(value As String)
m_GroupKey = Value
End Set
End Property
Private m_GroupKey As String
Public Property GroupName() As String
Get
Return m_GroupName
End Get
Set(value As String)
m_GroupName = Value
End Set
End Property
Private m_GroupName As String
End Class
Public Module HtmlHelpers
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem)) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, Nothing, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, optionLabel As String) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, Nothing, optionLabel, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, Nothing, htmlAttributes)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, Nothing, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem)) As MvcHtmlString
' optionLabel
' htmlAttributes
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, Nothing, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
' optionLabel
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, Nothing, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
' optionLabel
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, Nothing, htmlAttributes)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String) As MvcHtmlString
' htmlAttributes
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
If expression Is Nothing Then
Throw New ArgumentNullException("expression")
End If
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes)
End Function
Private Function DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, expression As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
' allowMultiple
Return SelectInternal(htmlHelper, optionLabel, expression, selectList, False, htmlAttributes)
End Function
' Helper methods
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Private Function GetSelectData(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String) As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem)
Dim o As Object = Nothing
If htmlHelper.ViewData IsNot Nothing Then
o = htmlHelper.ViewData.Eval(name)
End If
If o Is Nothing Then
Throw New InvalidOperationException([String].Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "Missing Select Data", name, "IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem>"))
End If
Dim selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem) = TryCast(o, IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem))
If selectList Is Nothing Then
Throw New InvalidOperationException([String].Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "Wrong Select DataType", name, o.[GetType]().FullName, "IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem>"))
End If
Return selectList
End Function
Friend Function ListItemToOption(item As GroupedSelectListItem) As String
Dim builder As New TagBuilder("option") With { _
.InnerHtml = HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(item.Text) _
}
If item.Value IsNot Nothing Then
builder.Attributes("value") = item.Value
End If
If item.Selected Then
builder.Attributes("selected") = "selected"
End If
Return builder.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Private Function SelectInternal(htmlHelper__1 As HtmlHelper, optionLabel As String, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), allowMultiple As Boolean, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
name = htmlHelper__1.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldName(name)
If [String].IsNullOrEmpty(name) Then
Throw New ArgumentException("Null Or Empty", "name")
End If
Dim usedViewData As Boolean = False
' If we got a null selectList, try to use ViewData to get the list of items.
If selectList Is Nothing Then
selectList = htmlHelper__1.GetSelectData(name)
usedViewData = True
End If
Dim defaultValue As Object = If((allowMultiple), htmlHelper__1.GetModelStateValue(name, GetType(String())), htmlHelper__1.GetModelStateValue(name, GetType(String)))
' If we haven't already used ViewData to get the entire list of items then we need to
' use the ViewData-supplied value before using the parameter-supplied value.
If Not usedViewData Then
If defaultValue Is Nothing Then
defaultValue = htmlHelper__1.ViewData.Eval(name)
End If
End If
If defaultValue IsNot Nothing Then
Dim defaultValues As IEnumerable = If((allowMultiple), TryCast(defaultValue, IEnumerable), New String() {defaultValue})
Dim values As IEnumerable(Of String) = From value In defaultValues Select (Convert.ToString(value, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture))
Dim selectedValues As New HashSet(Of String)(values, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
Dim newSelectList As New List(Of GroupedSelectListItem)()
For Each item As GroupedSelectListItem In selectList
item.Selected = If((item.Value IsNot Nothing), selectedValues.Contains(item.Value), selectedValues.Contains(item.Text))
newSelectList.Add(item)
Next
selectList = newSelectList
End If
' Convert each ListItem to an <option> tag
Dim listItemBuilder As New StringBuilder()
' Make optionLabel the first item that gets rendered.
If optionLabel IsNot Nothing Then
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(ListItemToOption(New GroupedSelectListItem() With { _
.Text = optionLabel, _
.Value = [String].Empty, _
.Selected = False _
}))
End If
For Each group As Object In selectList.GroupBy(Function(i) i.GroupKey)
Dim groupName As String = selectList.Where(Function(i) i.GroupKey = group.Key).[Select](Function(it) it.GroupName).FirstOrDefault()
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(String.Format("<optgroup label=""{0}"" value=""{1}"">", groupName, group.Key))
For Each item As GroupedSelectListItem In group
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(ListItemToOption(item))
Next
listItemBuilder.AppendLine("</optgroup>")
Next
Dim tagBuilder As New TagBuilder("select") With { _
.InnerHtml = listItemBuilder.ToString() _
}
TagBuilder.MergeAttributes(htmlAttributes)
' replaceExisting
TagBuilder.MergeAttribute("name", name, True)
TagBuilder.GenerateId(name)
If allowMultiple Then
TagBuilder.MergeAttribute("multiple", "multiple")
End If
' If there are any errors for a named field, we add the css attribute.
Dim modelState As ModelState = Nothing
If htmlHelper__1.ViewData.ModelState.TryGetValue(name, modelState) Then
If modelState.Errors.Count > 0 Then
TagBuilder.AddCssClass(HtmlHelper.ValidationInputCssClassName)
End If
End If
Return MvcHtmlString.Create(TagBuilder.ToString())
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Friend Function GetModelStateValue(helper As HtmlHelper, key As String, destinationType As Type) As Object
Dim modelState As ModelState = Nothing
If helper.ViewData.ModelState.TryGetValue(key, modelState) Then
If modelState.Value IsNot Nothing Then
' culture
Return modelState.Value.ConvertTo(destinationType, Nothing)
End If
End If
Return Nothing
End Function
End Module
