06 Create DropdownList from Enum

The default scaffolding process creates a textbox for properties of enum type. This procedure changes the textbox to dropdownlist when creating a view with the scaffolding.

1. Uder /views/Shared create a folder named DisplayTemplates
2. Right click on the created folder and a view named Enum.cshtml
3. Remove the content of the view add the following code:

@model Enum

@if (EnumHelper.IsValidForEnumHelper(ViewData.ModelMetadata))
{
    // Display Enum using same names (from [Display] attributes) as in editors
    string displayName = null;
    foreach (SelectListItem item in EnumHelper.GetSelectList(ViewData.ModelMetadata, (Enum)Model))
    {
        if (item.Selected)
        {
            displayName = item.Text ?? item.Value;
        }
    }

    // Handle the unexpected case that nothing is selected
    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(displayName))
    {
        if (Model == null)
        {
            displayName = String.Empty;
        }
        else
        {
            displayName = Model.ToString();
        }
    }

    @Html.DisplayTextFor(model => displayName)
}
else
{
    // This Enum type is not supported.  Fall back to the text.
    @Html.DisplayTextFor(model => model)
}

4. Add the code in your view for the property with enum type.

        <div class="form-group">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Level, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
            <div class="col-md-10">
                @Html.EnumDropDownListFor(model => model.Level, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "form-control" })
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Level, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })
            </div>
</div>