How can I get this ASP.NET MVC SelectList to work?

Question

This is how I do it

IList<Customer> customers = repository.GetAll<Customer>();
IEnumerable<SelectListItem> selectList = 
    from c in customers
    select new SelectListItem
    {
        Selected = (c.CustomerID == invoice.CustomerID),
        Text = c.Name,
        Value = c.CustomerID.ToString()
    };

At second glance I'm not sure I know what you are after...

I use an extension method:

usage

var departmentItems = departments.ToSelectList(d => d.Code + 
                                               " - " + d.Description,
                                               d => d.Id.ToString(),
                                               " - ");

var functionItems = customerFunctions.ToSelectList(f => f.Description, 
                                                   f => f.Id.ToString(), 
                                                   " - ");

with

public static class MCVExtentions
{
    public static List<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(
        this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, 
        Func<T, string> text, 
        Func<T, string> value, 
        string defaultOption)
    {
        var items = enumerable.Select(f => new SelectListItem()
                                     {
                                         Text = text(f), 
                                         Value = value(f) 
                                     }).ToList();
        items.Insert(0, new SelectListItem()
                    {
                        Text = defaultOption, 
                        Value = "-1" 
                    });
        return items;
    }
}

Using the constructor that accepts items, dataValueField, dataTextField, selectedValue as parameters :

ViewData["myList"] = 
                new SelectList(new[] { "10", "15", "25", "50", "100", "1000" }
                .Select(x => new {value = x, text = x}), 
                "value", "text", "15");

Then in your view :

<%=Html.DropDownList("myList") %>

Building off Thomas Stock's answer, I created these overloaded ToSelectList methods:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web.Mvc;

public static partial class Helpers
{
    public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Func<T, object> value, bool selectAll = false)
    {
        return enumerable.ToSelectList(value, value, selectAll);
    }

    public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Func<T, object> value, object selectedValue)
    {
        return enumerable.ToSelectList(value, value, new List<object>() { selectedValue });
    }

    public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Func<T, object> value, IEnumerable<object> selectedValues)
    {
        return enumerable.ToSelectList(value, value, selectedValues);
    }

    public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Func<T, object> value, Func<T, object> text, bool selectAll = false)
    {
        foreach (var f in enumerable.Where(x => x != null))
        {
            yield return new SelectListItem()
            {
                Value = value(f).ToString(),
                Text = text(f).ToString(),
                Selected = selectAll
            };
        }
    }

    public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Func<T, object> value, Func<T, object> text, object selectedValue)
    {
        return enumerable.ToSelectList(value, text, new List<object>() { selectedValue });
    }

    public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectList<T>(this IEnumerable<T> enumerable, Func<T, object> value, Func<T, object> text, IEnumerable<object> selectedValues)
    {
        var sel = selectedValues != null
            ? selectedValues.Where(x => x != null).ToList().ConvertAll<string>(x => x.ToString())
            : new List<string>();

        foreach (var f in enumerable.Where(x => x != null))
        {
            yield return new SelectListItem()
            {
                Value = value(f).ToString(),
                Text = text(f).ToString(),
                Selected = sel.Contains(value(f).ToString())
            };
        }
    }
}

In your controller, you might do the following:

var pageOptions = new[] { "10", "15", "25", "50", "100", "1000" };
ViewBag.PageOptions = pageOptions.ToSelectList(o => o, "15" /*selectedValue*/);

And finally in your View, put:

@Html.DropDownList("PageOptionsDropDown", ViewBag.PageOptions as IEnumerable<SelectListItem>, "(Select one)")

It will result in the desired output--of course, you can leave out the "(Select one)" optionLabel above if you don't want the first empty item:

<select id="PageOptionsDropDown" name="PageOptionsDropDown">
<option value="">(Select one)</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option selected="selected" value="15">15</option>
<option value="25">25</option>
<option value="50">50</option>
<option value="100">100</option>
<option value="1000">1000</option>
</select>

Update: A revised code listing can be found here with XML comments.

The problem is, SelectList works as designed. The bug is in the design. You may set the Selected Property in SelectedItem, but this will completely be ignored, if you traverse the list with the GetEnumerator() (or if Mvc does that for you). Mvc will create new SelectListItems instead.

You have to use the SelectList ctor with the SelectListItem[], the Text-Name, the Value-Name and the SelectedValue. Be aware to pass as SelectedValue the VALUE of SelectListItem, which you want to be selected, not the SelectListItem itself! Example:

SelectList sl = new SelectList( new[]{
  new SelectListItem{ Text="one", Value="1"},
  new SelectListItem{ Text="two", Value="2"},
  new SelectListItem{ Text="three", Value="3"}
}, "Text", "Value", "2" );

(not tested this, but I had the same problem)

then the 2nd option will get the selected="selected" attribute. That looks like good old DataSets ;-)

This is an option:

myViewData.PageOptionsDropDown = new[] 
{
 new SelectListItem { Text = "10", Value = "10" },
 new SelectListItem { Text = "15", Value = "15", Selected = true }
 new SelectListItem { Text = "25", Value = "25" },
 new SelectListItem { Text = "50", Value = "50" },
 new SelectListItem { Text = "100", Value = "100" },
 new SelectListItem { Text = "1000", Value = "1000" },
}