MVC2 EditorTemplate for DropDownList

I've spent the majority of the past week knee deep in the new templating functionality baked into MVC2. I had a hard time trying to get a DropDownList template working. The biggest problem I've been working to solve is how to get the source data for the drop down list to the template. I saw a lot of examples where you can put the source data in the ViewData dictionary (ViewData["DropDownSourceValuesKey"]) then retrieve them in the template itself (var sourceValues = ViewData["DropDownSourceValuesKey"];) This works, but I did not like having a silly string as the lynch pin for making this work.

Below is an approach I've come up with and wanted to get opinions on this approach:

here are my design goals:

• The view model should contain the source data for the drop down list
• Limit Silly Strings
• Not use ViewData dictionary
• Controller is responsible for filling the property with the source data for the drop down list

Here's my View Model:

   public class CustomerViewModel
    {
        [ScaffoldColumn(false)]
        public String CustomerCode{ get; set; }

        [UIHint("DropDownList")]
        [DropDownList(DropDownListTargetProperty = "CustomerCode"]
        [DisplayName("Customer Code")]
        public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> CustomerCodeList { get; set; }

        public String FirstName { get; set; }
        public String LastName { get; set; }
        public String PhoneNumber { get; set; }
        public String Address1 { get; set; }
        public String Address2 { get; set; }
        public String City { get; set; }
        public String State { get; set; }
        public String Zip { get; set; }
    }

My View Model has a CustomerCode property which is a value that the user selects from a list of values. I have a CustomerCodeList property that is a list of possible CustomerCode values and is the source for a drop down list.