ASP.NET MVC - drop down list selection - partial views and model binding

Question

I\'m fairly new to ASP.NET MVC and am trying to work out the best way to do this. It\'s probably simple but I just want to do things correctly so I thought I\'d ask.

Answer 1

Here is one way to do this. Create a TaskDetailsViewModel

public class TaskDetailsViewModel
{
    public TaskDetailsViewModel()
    {
        this.Task = new Task();
        this.StaffMembers = new List<StaffMember>();
    }

    public Task Task { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<StaffMember> StaffMembers { get; set; }
}

In Controller

public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
    var task = taskRepository.GetTaskByID(id);

    var taskDetailsViewModel = new TaskDetailsViewModel();

    // Populate taskDetailsViewModel from task and staff

    return View(taskDetailsViewModel);
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(TaskDetailsViewModel taskDetailsViewModel)
{
    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        taskRepository.Save(taskDetailsViewModel.Task);
    }
    else
    {
        // Show Error
    }

    return View(taskDetailsViewModel);
}

In View (bound strongly to TaskDetailsViewModel)

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Task.AssignedStaffMember, new SelectList(Model.StaffMembers, "ID", "FirstName", Model.Task.AssignedStaffMember))
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Task.AssignedStaffMember)