Strongly-typed binding to a DropDownListFor?

Question

Normally I would bind data to a DropDownListFor with a SelectList:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CustomerId, new SelectList(Model.Orders, "OrderId", "ItemName"))

Is there any way to do this through strongly-typed lambdas and not with property strings. For example:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CustomerId, new SelectList(Model.Orders, x => x.OrderId, x => x.ItemName))

Answer 1

You could create the select list itself in the controller and assign it to a property in your view model:

public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> OrdersList { get; set; }

The code in your controller will look like this:

model.OrdersList = db.Orders
                     .Select(o => new SelectListItem { Value = o.OrderId, Text = o.ItemName })
                     .ToList();

In the view you can use it like this:

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CustomerId, Model.OrderList)

I personally prefer this approach since it reduces logic in your views. It also keeps your logic 'stronly-typed', no magic strings anywhere.