Convert List to IEnumerable<SelectListItem>

Question

Tricky problem here. I'm trying to convert items for a list to IEnumerable<SelectListItem>.

Lists

dynamicTextInDatabase simply returns all the Enums that are used in my database. Currently only returns 1 and 2. The data class simple holds an int value.

dynamicTextEnumsInDatabase is the same list as above just in the class that actually stores my Enums.

dynamicTextEnumsAll is a list of all the Enums that are available in my application. Currently: 1, 2 and 3.

dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable is a list of all the unused Enums. It combines All the Enums and then removes the ones that are in the database list.

I need to pass the dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable to my View via the ViewBag to display in a drop-down list. However, It must be IEnumerable<SelectListItem> rather than a List.

Code

        var dynamicTextInDatabase = new List<DynamicTextEnumData>();         var dynamicTextEnumsInDatabase = new List<DynamicTextEnum>();         var dynamicTextEnumsAll = new List<DynamicTextEnum>();         IEnumerable<SelectListItem> list;          using (var proxy = new Proxy<IDynamicText>())         {             dynamicTextInDatabase = proxy.Channel.DynamicTextGetActiveEnums(Helper.GetCallingUser());         }          foreach (DynamicTextEnumData item in dynamicTextInDatabase)         {             var dynamicTextEnum = (DynamicTextEnum)item.DynamicTextEnum;             dynamicTextEnumsInDatabase.Add(dynamicTextEnum);         }          foreach (DynamicTextEnum item in Enum.GetValues(typeof(DynamicTextEnum)))         {             dynamicTextEnumsAll.Add(item);         }          var dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable = dynamicTextEnumsAll.Except(dynamicTextEnumsInDatabase).ToList();          if (dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable.Count == 0)         {             TempData["Error"] = "To update the text of a message or warning, please select it from the grid below.";             return RedirectToAction("Index");         }          ViewBag.AvaiableEnums = dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable;         return View(); 

Answer 1

Maybe try this? (untested)

ViewBag.AvaiableEnums = dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable.Select(x =>                                    new SelectListItem()                                    {                                       Text = x.ToString()                                   }); 

Answer 2

You could do the following

ViewBag.AvaiableEnums = new SelectList(dynamicTextEnumsAvaiable) 

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