Question

List<SelectListItem> items = new List<SelectListItem>();
if (a)
{
    SelectListItem deliveryItem = new SelectListItem()
    {
        Selected = a.selected,
        Text = "Delivery",
        Value = "1"
    };

    items.Add(deliveryItem);
}

if (b)
{
    SelectListItem pickupItem = new SelectListItem()
    {
        Selected = b.selected,
        Text = "Pickup",
        Value = "2"
    };

    items.Add(pickupItem);
}

SelectList selectList = new SelectList(items);

ViewData["OrderTypeList"] = selectList;

Then using it with

Html.DropDownList("OrderTypeList") 

Renders

<select id="OrderTypeList" name="OrderTypeList"><option>System.Web.Mvc.SelectListItem</option>
<option>System.Web.Mvc.SelectListItem</option>
</select>

Why it is not rendering options properly?

Answer 1

The constructor method you’re calling when you do:

SelectList selectList = new SelectList(items);

Creates a set of SelectListItems that themselves point to SelectListItems (hence the weird option since it just calls ToString on the object). Instead set your list to the ViewData key directly

ViewData["OrderTypeList"] = items;