MVC 4 - populate dropdownlistfor with model list

Question

I am trying to populate a dropdownlistfor in my view and I don't know the correct lambda expression for it to work. See code below:

@model Website.Models.modelTeamSelect


<h2>MatchSelect.cshtml</h2>

@using (Ajax.BeginForm("_PartialTeams",
    new
    {
        model = this.Model
    },
    new AjaxOptions
    {
        HttpMethod = "POST",
        UpdateTargetId = "divMatchScheduler",
        InsertionMode = InsertionMode.Replace
    }))
{

    <div id="divMatchScheduler">
         @Html.LabelFor(m => m.modelMatch.HomeTeam)
         @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.modelMatch.HomeTeam, new SelectList
    {
      Items = Model.teams.Select(t => t.TeamName)  
    })
         @Html.LabelFor(m => m.modelMatch.AwayTeam)

         @Html.LabelFor(m => m.modelMatch.MatchDate)
         @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.modelMatch.MatchDate)
    </div>

     <input type="submit" value="Add Match" name="btnSubmit" />


}

This syntax is wrong

@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.modelMatch.HomeTeam, new SelectList
    {
      Items = Model.teams.Select(t => t.TeamName)  
    })

My model being used by the view and the collection it contains

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace Website.Models
{
    public class modelMatch
    {
       public Guid MatchID { get; set; }

       public Guid AwayTeamID { get; set; }
       public string AwayTeam { get; set; }

       public Guid HomeTeamID { get; set; }
       public string HomeTeam { get; set; }

       public DateTime MatchDate { get; set; }
    }
}

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace Website.Models
{
    public class modelTeamSelect
    {
        public modelTeamSelect()
        {
            teams = new List<modelTeam>();
            team = new modelTeam();
            modelMatch = new Models.modelMatch();
            modelMatches = new List<modelMatch>();
        }

        public List<modelTeam> teams { get; set; }
        public modelTeam team { get; set; }
        public modelMatch modelMatch { get; set; }
        public List<modelMatch> modelMatches { get; set; }

        public string message { get; set; }
    }
}

Summary

How do I populate dropdownlistfor using a list collection that is in my model?

Answer 1

For most cases you'll want to use this overload of SelectList to populate your dropdowns.

@Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.modelMatch.HomeTeam, new SelectList(Model.teams, "dataValueField", "dataTextField"))

dataValueField and dataTextField are the properties from your modelTeam model that will be used as value and text for the dropdown.