In a .NET MVC application, dropdown lists are commonly used to allow users to select options from a list. In some cases, it may be necessary to get the selected text and value from a dropdown list in the controller action method. In this blog post, we will explore how to get the selected text and value from a dropdown list in the controller action method using a C# code example.
The Model
Let's create a class called
Employee with properties
Id and
Name to simulate our data:
public class Employee
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
}
The Controller
In our controller, we can create a list of
Employee objects and use it to bind the data to our dropdown list. Here is an example:
public ActionResult Index()
{
List<Employee> employeesList = new List<Employee>
{
new Employee {Id = 1, Name = "John Doe"},
new Employee {Id = 2, Name = "Jane Smith"},
new Employee {Id = 3, Name = "Bob Johnson"}
};
ViewBag.Employees = new SelectList(employeesList, "Id", "Name");
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(FormCollection form)
{
int selectedId = Convert.ToInt32(form["Employees"]);
string selectedText = ((SelectList) ViewBag.Employees).FirstOrDefault(c => c.Value == selectedId.ToString())?.Text;
// Do something with selectedId and selectedText
return View();
}
In this example, we create a list of
Employee objects and use the
SelectList constructor that takes three parameters. The first parameter is the list of
Employee objects, the second parameter is the name of the property to use for the value (
Id in this case), and the third parameter is the name of the property to use for the text (
Name in this case).
We then store this
SelectList object in the
ViewBag using the key
"Employees". In our POST action method, we retrieve the selected value using the
"Employees" key from the
FormCollection object. We then convert the selected value to an integer and use it to retrieve the corresponding
Employee object from the
SelectList stored in the
ViewBag. Finally, we retrieve the text value of the selected item and use it in our application.
The View
In our view, we can create a dropdown list using the
Html.DropDownList helper method. Here is an example:
@Html.DropDownList("Employees", (SelectList) ViewBag.Employees, "-- Select Employee --", new { @class = "form-control" })
In this example, we are creating a dropdown list with the name
"Employees" and using the
ViewBag.Employees object to populate the options. The
"-- Select Employee --" string is used as the default option text. The
new { @class = "form-control" } object is used to apply the Bootstrap
form-control class to the dropdown list.
Conclusion
Getting the selected text and value from a dropdown list in the controller action method is a straightforward process in a .NET MVC application. By using a class to represent our data and the appropriate syntax, we can easily bind data to our dropdown list and retrieve the selected text and value. With this knowledge, you can create more dynamic and interactive applications that better meet the needs of your users.