ASP.MVC DropDownListFor Default Value

Question

I'm trying to generate a dropdownlist in my view, like the one below except I want my option label ("Please select...") to have a value of -1 as blank is already occupied by another option. Is there anyway to do this without adding it to the select list in my controller or view model, or creating a new html helper?

<%: Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.stuff.Id, new SelectList(Model.stuff, "Id", "Name"), "Please select...")%>

Thanks

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-22 10:32:36Z

9

I want my option label ("Please select...") to have a value of -1

You cannot do this out of the box with the DropDownListFor helper. It will always use blank for this value. You have two possibilities:

Write a custom helper
Add it manually to the collection

Actually you have a third possibility which IMHO is the best and what I would recommend you:

Don't use blank as values. This should be reserved for the Please Select default value. It doesn't seem logical to use blank as the value of something that the user can actually select. You might also have problems with the validation.

answered Feb 22, 2011 at 10:32

Darin Dimitrov

1.0m275 gold badges3.3k silver badges3k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

mat-mcloughlin Over a year ago

Thanks for confirming what I suspected. This is a one of case so I think I will go with the latter

mat-mcloughlin Over a year ago

RE: your last comment, totally with you this one. However this is a particular case and after consideration using blank as a selectable value makes other things a lot simpler.

Levitikon Over a year ago

To expand on option #2, the accepted answer for this post gives a good idea how to implement it: forums.asp.net/t/1572194.aspx/1

Tim · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-25 21:50:22Z

1

Just use the Concat method to add a new item to the SelectList after you get your values from the database. Then set the value to 0 and text to "Please Select".

 var selectList = new SelectList(types.Concat( new[]{new MediaType() {MediaTypeId = 0, Type = "Please select"}})
            , "mediatypeid", "type");

answered Oct 25, 2013 at 21:50

Tim

6016 silver badges11 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

ASP.MVC DropDownListFor Default Value

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related