ASP.NET MVC - Get Id from a dropdownlist

Question

I'm new in ASP.NET MVC and i have a problem. I needed to get a string "Category" from a dropdownlist, that was my code:

var CList = new List<string>();

StreetFooder sf = db.StreetFooders.Single(s => s.User.UserName == this.User.Identity.Name);

var Cqry = from d in db.Categories
where !d.IsDeleted && d.StreetFooder.Id == sf.Id
orderby d.Name
select d.Name;

CList.AddRange(Cqry.Distinct());
ViewBag.CategoryList = new SelectList(CList);

And the view:

<div class="col-md-10">

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Category, (SelectList)ViewBag.CategoryList, new { @class = "form-control" })

@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Category, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
</div>

And that worked for me. After that, i realized i made a mistake and changed my string Category attribute in:

public virtual Categories Type { get; set; }

Now i want to save on my db the ID instead of string, but still want to see my string when select from dropdown list...but don't know how.

Answer 1

Use SelectListItem to create the SelectList, there you can specify Value = your id and Text = display text

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.selectlistitem(v=vs.118).aspx

var CList = new List<SelectListItem>();

StreetFooder sf = db.StreetFooders.Single(s => s.User.UserName == this.User.Identity.Name);

var Cqry = from d in db.Categories
where !d.IsDeleted && d.StreetFooder.Id == sf.Id
orderby d.Name
select d;

CList.AddRange(Cqry.Distinct().Select(x => new SelectListItem 
{
    Value = x.Id.ToString(),
    Text = d.Name
}));
ViewBag.CategoryList = new SelectList(CList);

You can even omit using the SelectList and simply pass a List<SelectListItem> if I recall correctly.