How do you create a dropdownlist from an enum in ASP.NET MVC?

Expanding on Prise and Rune's answers, if you'd like to have the value attribute of your select list items map to the integer value of the Enumeration type, rather than the string value, use the following code:

public static SelectList ToSelectList<T, TU>(T enumObj) 
    where T : struct
    where TU : struct
{
    if(!typeof(T).IsEnum) throw new ArgumentException("Enum is required.", "enumObj");

    var values = from T e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(T))
                 select new { 
                    Value = (TU)Convert.ChangeType(e, typeof(TU)),
                    Text = e.ToString() 
                 };

    return new SelectList(values, "Value", "Text", enumObj);
}

Instead of treating each Enumeration value as a TEnum object, we can treat it as a object and then cast it to integer to get the unboxed value.

Note: I also added a generic type constraint to restrict the types for which this extension is available to only structs (Enum's base type), and a run-time type validation which ensures that the struct passed in is indeed an Enum.

Update 10/23/12: Added generic type parameter for underlying type and fixed non-compilation issue affecting .NET 4+.

This is version for Razor:

@{
    var itemTypesList = new List<SelectListItem>();
    itemTypesList.AddRange(Enum.GetValues(typeof(ItemTypes)).Cast<ItemTypes>().Select(
                (item, index) => new SelectListItem
                {
                    Text = item.ToString(),
                    Value = (index).ToString(),
                    Selected = Model.ItemTypeId == index
                }).ToList());
 }


@Html.DropDownList("ItemTypeId", itemTypesList)

I am very late on this one but I just found a really cool way to do this with one line of code, if you are happy to add the Unconstrained Melody NuGet package (a nice, small library from Jon Skeet).

This solution is better because:

1. It ensures (with generic type constraints) that the value really is an enum value (due to Unconstrained Melody)
2. It avoids unnecessary boxing (due to Unconstrained Melody)
3. It caches all the descriptions to avoid using reflection on every call (due to Unconstrained Melody)
4. It is less code than the other solutions!

So, here are the steps to get this working:

1. In Package Manager Console, "Install-Package UnconstrainedMelody"

2. Add a property on your model like so:

   //Replace "YourEnum" with the type of your enum
   public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> AllItems
   {
       get
       {
           return Enums.GetValues<YourEnum>().Select(enumValue => new SelectListItem { Value = enumValue.ToString(), Text = enumValue.GetDescription() });
       }
   }
   

Now that you have the List of SelectListItem exposed on your model, you can use the @Html.DropDownList or @Html.DropDownListFor using this property as the source.

This is my version of helper method. I use this:

var values = from int e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(TEnum))
             select new { ID = e, Name = Enum.GetName(typeof(TEnum), e) };

Instead of that:

var values = from TEnum e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(TEnum))
           select new { ID = (int)Enum.Parse(typeof(TEnum),e.ToString())
                     , Name = e.ToString() };

Here it is:

public static SelectList ToSelectList<TEnum>(this TEnum self) where TEnum : struct
    {
        if (!typeof(TEnum).IsEnum)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("self must be enum", "self");
        }

        Type t = typeof(TEnum);

        var values = from int e in Enum.GetValues(typeof(TEnum))
                     select new { ID = e, Name = Enum.GetName(typeof(TEnum), e) };

        return new SelectList(values, "ID", "Name", self);
    }

You can also use my custom HtmlHelpers in Griffin.MvcContrib. The following code:

@Html2.CheckBoxesFor(model => model.InputType) <br />
@Html2.RadioButtonsFor(model => model.InputType) <br />
@Html2.DropdownFor(model => model.InputType) <br />

Generates:

https://github.com/jgauffin/griffin.mvccontrib