I'm trying to use the Html.DropDownList extension method but can't figure out how to use it with an enumeration.
Let's say I have an enumeration like this:
public enum ItemTypes
{
Movie = 1,
Game = 2,
Book = 3
}
How do I go about creating a dropdown with these values using the Html.DropDownList extension method?
Or is my best bet to simply create a for loop and create the Html elements manually?
@Html.EnumDropDownListFor(
x => x.YourEnumField,
"Select My Type",
new { @class = "form-control" })
@Html.DropDownList("MyType",
EnumHelper.GetSelectList(typeof(MyType)) ,
"Select My Type",
new { @class = "form-control" })
I rolled Rune's answer into an extension method:
namespace MyApp.Common
{
public static class MyExtensions{
public static SelectList ToSelectList<TEnum>(this TEnum enumObj)
where TEnum : struct, IComparable, IFormattable, IConvertible
{
var values = from TEnum e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(TEnum))
select new { Id = e, Name = e.ToString() };
return new SelectList(values, "Id", "Name", enumObj);
}
}
}
This allows you to write:
ViewData["taskStatus"] = task.Status.ToSelectList();
by using MyApp.Common
I bumped into the same problem, found this question, and thought that the solution provided by Ash wasn't what I was looking for; Having to create the HTML myself means less flexibility compared to the built-in Html.DropDownList() function.
Turns out C#3 etc. makes this pretty easy. I have an enum called TaskStatus:
var statuses = from TaskStatus s in Enum.GetValues(typeof(TaskStatus))
select new { ID = s, Name = s.ToString() };
ViewData["taskStatus"] = new SelectList(statuses, "ID", "Name", task.Status);
This creates a good ol' SelectList that can be used like you're used to in the view:
<td><b>Status:</b></td><td><%=Html.DropDownList("taskStatus")%></td></tr>
The anonymous type and LINQ makes this so much more elegant IMHO. No offence intended, Ash. :)
Expanding on Prise and Rune's answers, if you'd like to have the value attribute of your select list items map to the integer value of the Enumeration type, rather than the string value, use the following code:
public static SelectList ToSelectList<T, TU>(T enumObj)
where T : struct
where TU : struct
{
if(!typeof(T).IsEnum) throw new ArgumentException("Enum is required.", "enumObj");
var values = from T e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T))
select new {
Value = (TU)Convert.ChangeType(e, typeof(TU)),
Text = e.ToString()
};
return new SelectList(values, "Value", "Text", enumObj);
}
Instead of treating each Enumeration value as a TEnum object, we can treat it as a object and then cast it to integer to get the unboxed value.
Note: I also added a generic type constraint to restrict the types for which this extension is available to only structs (Enum's base type), and a run-time type validation which ensures that the struct passed in is indeed an Enum.
Update 10/23/12: Added generic type parameter for underlying type and fixed non-compilation issue affecting .NET 4+.
In .NET Core you can just use this:
@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Foo, Html.GetEnumSelectList<MyEnum>())
Well I'm really late to the party, but for what it is worth, I have blogged about this very subject whereby I create a EnumHelper class that enables very easy transformation.
http://jnye.co/Posts/4/creating-a-dropdown-list-from-an-enum-in-mvc-and-c%23
In your controller:
//If you don't have an enum value use the type
ViewBag.DropDownList = EnumHelper.SelectListFor<MyEnum>();
//If you do have an enum value use the value (the value will be marked as selected)
ViewBag.DropDownList = EnumHelper.SelectListFor(MyEnum.MyEnumValue);
In your View:
@Html.DropDownList("DropDownList")
@* OR *@
@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Property, ViewBag.DropDownList as SelectList, null)
The helper class:
public static class EnumHelper
{
// Get the value of the description attribute if the
// enum has one, otherwise use the value.
public static string GetDescription<TEnum>(this TEnum value)
{
var fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());
if (fi != null)
{
var attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);
if (attributes.Length > 0)
{
return attributes[0].Description;
}
}
return value.ToString();
}
/// <summary>
/// Build a select list for an enum
/// </summary>
public static SelectList SelectListFor<T>() where T : struct
{
Type t = typeof(T);
return !t.IsEnum ? null
: new SelectList(BuildSelectListItems(t), "Value", "Text");
}
/// <summary>
/// Build a select list for an enum with a particular value selected
/// </summary>
public static SelectList SelectListFor<T>(T selected) where T : struct
{
Type t = typeof(T);
return !t.IsEnum ? null
: new SelectList(BuildSelectListItems(t), "Text", "Value", selected.ToString());
}
private static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> BuildSelectListItems(Type t)
{
return Enum.GetValues(t)
.Cast<Enum>()
.Select(e => new SelectListItem { Value = e.ToString(), Text = e.GetDescription() });
}
}
UPDATED - I would suggest using the suggestion by Rune below rather than this option!
I assume that you want something like the following spat out:
<select name="blah">
<option value="1">Movie</option>
<option value="2">Game</option>
<option value="3">Book</option>
</select>
which you could do with an extension method something like the following:
public static string DropdownEnum(this System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper helper,
Enum values)
{
System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
sb.Append("<select name=\"blah\">");
string[] names = Enum.GetNames(values.GetType());
foreach(string name in names)
{
sb.Append("<option value=\"");
sb.Append(((int)Enum.Parse(values.GetType(), name)).ToString());
sb.Append("\">");
sb.Append(name);
sb.Append("</option>");
}
sb.Append("</select>");
return sb.ToString();
}
BUT things like this aren't localisable (i.e. it will be hard to translate into another language).
Note: you need to call the static method with an instance of the Enumeration, i.e. Html.DropdownEnum(ItemTypes.Movie);
There may be a more elegant way of doing this, but the above does work.