How to pass in a SelectList and use associative se

Question

Given the following code how can I select a list item in my view to get the name via an id? I just want to get the name value from the list via a local @id variable that maps to the lists id range.

This really has nothing to do with dropdowns...perhaps selectlist is the wrong container for associative look up dictionaries?

-- Controller

ViewBag.TypeId = new SelectList(db.TypeIds, "TypeId", "Name");

-- View

@* ??? Get the name by a local @id  *@
<div>ViewBag.TypeId.SelectItemNameById(@id)</div>  @* Bad psuedo code here... *@ 

Answer 1

I will use Jquery with an ajax call on the onChange of your dropdownlist.

$(document).ready(function () {
  $("#MyDrop").change(function () { GetValue("#MyDrop"); });
});

function GetValue(objSource) {
var url = '/Home/Index/GetValue/';
$.getJSON(url, { id: $(objSource).val() }, function (data) {       
      //with data returned fill your fields
    });
});

}

From the controller

public ActionResult GetValue(string id)
{
  int intId = 0;
  int.TryParse(id, out intId);
  var myData = //Get the value from Id
  return Json(myData, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}

Remeber to use AllowGet if you don't do a Post call from your ajax (like in my example)

UPDATE to reflect the comments

To achive what you need use a Dictionary passed via ViewBag.

Then from your view you access the (Dictionary)ViewBag.MyDictionary. Or whatever collection you prefer.