Question

I am trying to get a dropdown list to send back it’s selection on HTTP POST along with the other related data. I can see the value inside a Form Collection, but I VS2010 tells me that the object is NULL when I look at the other posted entities.

This model has a many to one relationship:

[Key]
public int ProgramTypeId { get; set; }

public string ProgramType { get; set; }

public List<SurveyProgramModels> SurveyProgramModel { get; set; }

This model uses the ProgramTypeId as a foreign key

public class SurveyProgramModels
    {
        [Key]
        public Guid ProgramId { get; set; }

        public virtual SurveyProgramTypeModels SurveyProgramTypeModels { get; set; }

        public int ProgramYear { get; set; }

        public int ProgramStatus { get; set; }

    }

Controller GET/POST

  //
        // GET: /SurveyProgram/Create

        public ActionResult Create()
        {

            SelectList typelist = new SelectList(db.SurveyProgramTypeModels.ToList(), "ProgramTypeId", "ProgramType", db.SurveyProgramTypeModels);
            ViewData["SurveyProgramTypeModels"] = typelist;

            return View();
        } 

        //
        // POST: /SurveyProgram/Create

        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult Create(SurveyProgramModels surveyprogram, FormCollection collection)
        {


            SelectList typelist = new SelectList(db.SurveyProgramTypeModels.ToList(), "ProgramTypeId", "ProgramType", db.SurveyProgramTypeModels);
            ViewData["SurveyProgramTypeModels"] = typelist;

          //  int SelectedCollection = Int32.Parse(collection["ProgramTypeId"]);

            if (ModelState.IsValid)
            {
              surveyprogram.ProgramId = Guid.NewGuid();

                db.SurveyPrograms.Add(surveyprogram);
                db.SaveChanges();
                return RedirectToAction("Index");  
            }

            return View(surveyprogram);
        }

Select list in the view:

<div class="editor-field">
            @Html.DropDownList("ProgramTypeTypeModels", (IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewData["SurveyProgramTypeModels"])
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.SurveyProgramTypeModels)
        </div>

The Select list is correct when rendered in the view, and I can see the selected value as a part of the form collection. I’m not sure why the selected value isn’t being saved along with the other data for SurveyProgramModels.

Edit: I should also mention the data submits correctly when I remove the relationship between the two classes.

Answer 1

The form element is named as “ProgramTypeTypeModels” which would cause it not to bind back correctly. You also should create a Model to return to the View.

Then include the SelectList as a property in the Model for the View

Now you do something like:

 @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.SurveyProgramTypeModels)

And for the [HttpPost] you can then take the strongly typed Model as an argument and the aspnet binding will do all the work, no reason to DTO out of the FormCollection