mvc 4 How to populate dropdownlist from collection in model on create page

Question

I am sure this is a simple thing that I am missing. I was trying to add a dropdownlist to the Create.cshtml with the purpose of populating the list from a database. For the experiment I mucked up the following: two classes that correspond to database tables that have values.

namespace MvcTestApplication.Models
{
public class Complaints
{
    public int ID { get; set; }
    public string User { get; set; }
    public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }
    public string  Nature { get; set; }
    public string Month { get; set; }
    public string Year { get; set; }
    public string Account { get; set; }
    public string Employee { get; set; }
    public string Manager { get; set; }
    public int CompanyID { get; set; }
    public int CompanyNumID { get; set; }
    public int DepartmentID { get; set; }
    public int ClientID { get; set; }
    public int ClientCodeID { get; set; }
    public string Source { get; set; }
    public string Status { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Company> Companies{ get; set; }
}
namespace MvcTestApplication.Models
{
public class Company
{
    public int CompanyID { get; set; }
    public string CompanyName { get; set; }
    public bool enabled { get; set; }

}
}

then a DAL

namespace MvcTestApplication.DAL
{

public class ComplaintDBContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet<Complaints> Complaints { get; set; }

}

On the create.cshtml page I just want to be able to populate a dropdownlist with the companies (many more dropdownlists after I get this working) but so far I always get a null reference whenever I try. On the create actionresult I tried passing a new Complaints model, just the complaints model, I am missing how to make the companies collection be populated.

 <div class="editor-label">
        @Html.LabelFor(model => model.ReleaseDate)
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.ReleaseDate, new { id = "release_date" })
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ReleaseDate)
    </div>

    <div class="editor-label">
        @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Source)
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
        @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Source)
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Source)
    </div>
  <div class="editor-label">
        @Html.LabelFor(model => model.CompanyID)
    </div>
    <div class="editor-field">
    @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CompanyID , new SelectList(Model.Companies , "CompanyID", "CompanyName"), "-- Select Company--")

        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.CompanyID)
    </div>

I am doing code first for the tables and I have verified that there is data there. The index page lists the sample complaints I seeded the table with correctly. — Kaeghl
– Kaeghl, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 16:42
I guess I should add that this would be good to have in Edit mode as well (the dropdowns) — Kaeghl
– Kaeghl, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 16:50
I think I got it to work: public ActionResult Create() { List<Company> comps = db.Companies.ToList(); return View(new Complaints { Nature = "test this", Source = "Email", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Now, Companies = comps }); //return View(); } — Kaeghl
– Kaeghl, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 18:48
and now I am trying to work on how to display the value of the companyid (companyname) in the index view. — Kaeghl
– Kaeghl, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 20:26

Divi · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-19 01:59:53Z

1

I think you need to build a template for your complex object type Complaints. Something like this should get you started to define a custom editor template for Complaints. This will automatically be rendered for each element in the Complaints collection.

You need to store it in ~/Views/Shared/EditorTemplates/Complaints.cshtml:

@model Complaints

<div>
    @Html.LabelFor(x => x.id): 
    @Html.EditorFor(x => x.id)

    @Html.LabelFor(x => x.Nature): 
    @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Nature)

    @Html.LabelFor(x => x.ReleaseDate): 
    @Html.EditorFor(x => x.ReleaseDate)

    @Html.LabelFor(x => x.Source): 
    @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Source)

    @Html.LabelFor(x => x.Status): 
    @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Status)
</div>

To us, simply write:

@Html.EditorFor(model => model.Complaints)

answered Jun 19, 2014 at 1:59

Divi

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