DropdownListFor default value

Question

Is there a simple way to add a \"--Please select--\" default option to a DropDownListFor in MVC 3?

Answer 1

Hi what about trying this (in case you use DisplayFor method)

private IEnumerable AddDefaultOption(IEnumerable list, string dataTextField, string selectedValue)
    {
        var items = new List();
        items.Add(new SelectListItem() { Text = dataTextField, Value = selectedValue});
        items.AddRange(list);
        return items;
    }

Then just add this code to your Controller

//lambda expression binding
ViewBag.YourList = db.YourTable.Select(x => x).ToList().Select(x => new SelectListItem
        {
            Value = x.Id.ToString(),
            Text = x.DisplayName.ToString()
        });

        ViewBag.YourList = AddDefaultOption(ViewBag.YourList, "Select One...", "null", true);

And finally at the View you could display a dropdown, combobox just like this

    

        Your Label
    
    

        @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.ForeignKey, (IEnumerable)ViewBag.YourList)