ASP.NET MVC View User Control - how to set IDs?

Question

I need a dropdown list on my page that will allow a user to select their state. Since this is probably a control that will be used elsewhere, I thought it would be a good idea

Answer 1

Take a look at the Html.DropDownList helper method. It has a number of overloads that allow you to pass the list data and set the selected item. the simplest version just sets the name of the select.

<%= Html.DropDownList("SelectStates"); %>

If there is a value in the ViewData["SelectStates"] that is of type MultiSelectList then the list will be automatically populated.