Creating a dropdown list from an enum in MVC and C#

Recently I have been displaying enums as drop down lists on some MVC 3 projects and noticed there are a few people out there looking for a solution

Here is an enum helper I use that turns an enum into a select list. Note: If the enum has a description (using the DescriptionAttribute) it will use that as its display text

public static class EnumHelper { // Get the value of the description attribute if the // enum has one, otherwise use the value. public static string GetDescription<TEnum>(this TEnum value) { var fi = value.GetType().GetField(value.ToString()); if (fi != null) { var attributes = (DescriptionAttribute[])fi.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), false); if (attributes.Length > 0) { return attributes[0].Description; } } return value.ToString(); } /// <summary> /// Build a select list for an enum /// </summary> public static SelectList SelectListFor<T>() where T : struct { Type t = typeof(T); return !t.IsEnum ? null : new SelectList(BuildSelectListItems(t), "Value", "Text"); } /// <summary> /// Build a select list for an enum with a particular value selected /// </summary> public static SelectList SelectListFor<T>(T selected) where T : struct { Type t = typeof(T); return !t.IsEnum ? null : new SelectList(BuildSelectListItems(t), "Value", "Text", selected.ToString()); } private static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> BuildSelectListItems(Type t) { return Enum.GetValues(t) .Cast<Enum>() .Select(e => new SelectListItem { Value = e.ToString(), Text = e.GetDescription() }); } } 

Once you have this helper class in place you can do the following.

In your controller:

//If you don't have an enum value use the type ViewBag.DropDownList = EnumHelper.SelectListFor<MyEnum>(); //If you do have an enum value use the value (the value will be marked as selected) ViewBag.DropDownList = EnumHelper.SelectListFor(MyEnum.MyEnumValue); 

In your View:

@Html.DropDownList("DropDownList") @* OR *@ @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Property, ViewBag.DropDownList as SelectList, null) 

Hey presto you have a drop down list for your enums which binds back to your view model on post.