How do you create a dropdownlist from an enum in A

Question

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?

Answer 1

In ASP.NET MVC 5.1, they added the EnumDropDownListFor() helper, so no need for custom extensions:

Model:

public enum MyEnum
{
    [Display(Name = "First Value - desc..")]
    FirstValue,
    [Display(Name = "Second Value - desc...")]
    SecondValue
}

View:

@Html.EnumDropDownListFor(model => model.MyEnum)

Using Tag Helper (ASP.NET MVC 6):

<select asp-for="@Model.SelectedValue" asp-items="Html.GetEnumSelectList<MyEnum>()">

Answer 2

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. :)

Answer 3

The best solution I found for this was combining this blog with Simon Goldstone's answer.

This allows use of the enum in the model. Essentially the idea is to use an integer property as well as the enum, and emulate the integer property.

Then use the [System.ComponentModel.Description] attribute for annotating the model with your display text, and use an "EnumDropDownListFor" extension in your view.

This makes both the view and model very readable and maintainable.

Model:

public enum YesPartialNoEnum
{
    [Description("Yes")]
    Yes,
    [Description("Still undecided")]
    Partial,
    [Description("No")]
    No
}

//........

[Display(Name = "The label for my dropdown list")]
public virtual Nullable<YesPartialNoEnum> CuriousQuestion{ get; set; }
public virtual Nullable<int> CuriousQuestionId
{
    get { return (Nullable<int>)CuriousQuestion; }
    set { CuriousQuestion = (Nullable<YesPartialNoEnum>)value; }
}

View:

@using MyProject.Extensions
{
//...
    @Html.EnumDropDownListFor(model => model.CuriousQuestion)
//...
}

Extension (directly from Simon Goldstone's answer, included here for completeness):

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Web.Mvc.Html;

namespace MyProject.Extensions
{
    //Extension methods must be defined in a static class
    public static class MvcExtensions
    {
        private static Type GetNonNullableModelType(ModelMetadata modelMetadata)
        {
            Type realModelType = modelMetadata.ModelType;

            Type underlyingType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(realModelType);
            if (underlyingType != null)
            {
                realModelType = underlyingType;
            }
            return realModelType;
        }

        private static readonly SelectListItem[] SingleEmptyItem = new[] { new SelectListItem { Text = "", Value = "" } };

        public static string GetEnumDescription<TEnum>(TEnum value)
        {
            FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());

            DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);

            if ((attributes != null) && (attributes.Length > 0))
                return attributes[0].Description;
            else
                return value.ToString();
        }

        public static MvcHtmlString EnumDropDownListFor<TModel, TEnum>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TEnum>> expression)
        {
            return EnumDropDownListFor(htmlHelper, expression, null);
        }

        public static MvcHtmlString EnumDropDownListFor<TModel, TEnum>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TEnum>> expression, object htmlAttributes)
        {
            ModelMetadata metadata = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData);
            Type enumType = GetNonNullableModelType(metadata);
            IEnumerable<TEnum> values = Enum.GetValues(enumType).Cast<TEnum>();

            IEnumerable<SelectListItem> items = from value in values
                                                select new SelectListItem
                                                {
                                                    Text = GetEnumDescription(value),
                                                    Value = value.ToString(),
                                                    Selected = value.Equals(metadata.Model)
                                                };

            // If the enum is nullable, add an 'empty' item to the collection
            if (metadata.IsNullableValueType)
                items = SingleEmptyItem.Concat(items);

            return htmlHelper.DropDownListFor(expression, items, htmlAttributes);
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

This is version for Razor:

@{
    var itemTypesList = new List<SelectListItem>();
    itemTypesList.AddRange(Enum.GetValues(typeof(ItemTypes)).Cast<ItemTypes>().Select(
                (item, index) => new SelectListItem
                {
                    Text = item.ToString(),
                    Value = (index).ToString(),
                    Selected = Model.ItemTypeId == index
                }).ToList());
 }


@Html.DropDownList("ItemTypeId", itemTypesList)

Answer 5

I am very late on this one but I just found a really cool way to do this with one line of code, if you are happy to add the Unconstrained Melody NuGet package (a nice, small library from Jon Skeet).

This solution is better because:

1. It ensures (with generic type constraints) that the value really is an enum value (due to Unconstrained Melody)
2. It avoids unnecessary boxing (due to Unconstrained Melody)
3. It caches all the descriptions to avoid using reflection on every call (due to Unconstrained Melody)
4. It is less code than the other solutions!

So, here are the steps to get this working:

1. In Package Manager Console, "Install-Package UnconstrainedMelody"

2. Add a property on your model like so:

   //Replace "YourEnum" with the type of your enum
   public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> AllItems
   {
       get
       {
           return Enums.GetValues<YourEnum>().Select(enumValue => new SelectListItem { Value = enumValue.ToString(), Text = enumValue.GetDescription() });
       }
   }
   

Now that you have the List of SelectListItem exposed on your model, you can use the @Html.DropDownList or @Html.DropDownListFor using this property as the source.

Answer 6

I know I'm late to the party on this, but thought you might find this variant useful, as this one also allows you to use descriptive strings rather than enumeration constants in the drop down. To do this, decorate each enumeration entry with a [System.ComponentModel.Description] attribute.

For example:

public enum TestEnum
{
  [Description("Full test")]
  FullTest,

  [Description("Incomplete or partial test")]
  PartialTest,

  [Description("No test performed")]
  None
}

Here is my code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Mvc.Html;
using System.Reflection;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq.Expressions;

 ...

 private static Type GetNonNullableModelType(ModelMetadata modelMetadata)
    {
        Type realModelType = modelMetadata.ModelType;

        Type underlyingType = Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(realModelType);
        if (underlyingType != null)
        {
            realModelType = underlyingType;
        }
        return realModelType;
    }

    private static readonly SelectListItem[] SingleEmptyItem = new[] { new SelectListItem { Text = "", Value = "" } };

    public static string GetEnumDescription<TEnum>(TEnum value)
    {
        FieldInfo fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString());

        DescriptionAttribute[] attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false);

        if ((attributes != null) && (attributes.Length > 0))
            return attributes[0].Description;
        else
            return value.ToString();
    }

    public static MvcHtmlString EnumDropDownListFor<TModel, TEnum>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TEnum>> expression)
    {
        return EnumDropDownListFor(htmlHelper, expression, null);
    }

    public static MvcHtmlString EnumDropDownListFor<TModel, TEnum>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TEnum>> expression, object htmlAttributes)
    {
        ModelMetadata metadata = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData);
        Type enumType = GetNonNullableModelType(metadata);
        IEnumerable<TEnum> values = Enum.GetValues(enumType).Cast<TEnum>();

        IEnumerable<SelectListItem> items = from value in values
            select new SelectListItem
            {
                Text = GetEnumDescription(value),
                Value = value.ToString(),
                Selected = value.Equals(metadata.Model)
            };

        // If the enum is nullable, add an 'empty' item to the collection
        if (metadata.IsNullableValueType)
            items = SingleEmptyItem.Concat(items);

        return htmlHelper.DropDownListFor(expression, items, htmlAttributes);
    }

You can then do this in your view:

@Html.EnumDropDownListFor(model => model.MyEnumProperty)

Hope this helps you!

**EDIT 2014-JAN-23: Microsoft have just released MVC 5.1, which now has an EnumDropDownListFor feature. Sadly it does not appear to respect the [Description] attribute so the code above still stands.See Enum section in Microsoft's release notes for MVC 5.1.

Update: It does support the Display attribute [Display(Name = "Sample")] though, so one can use that.

[Update - just noticed this, and the code looks like an extended version of the code here: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/stuartleeks/2010/05/21/asp-net-mvc-creating-a-dropdownlist-helper-for-enums/, with a couple of additions. If so, attribution would seem fair ;-)]