ASP.NET MVC 2 - Populate drop down list from a Dictionary

I'm trying to poplulate a drop down list in MVC 2 from a Dictionary{string, string}. My code below, that is not quite right...

stat开发者_Python百科es is the Dictionary. Help

<tr>
<td class="formtext">
    <%: Html.LabelFor(m => m.State)%> <strong>*</strong>
</td>
<td align="left">
    <%= Html.DropDownList("statesDropDown", null, null, new { @class = "ddlAttributeGroups" })%>
</td>
</tr>

ActionResult:

var states = new States().GetStates();
var statesDropDown = new SelectList(states, states.Keys.ToString(), states.Values.ToString());
ViewData["statesDropDown"] = statesDropDown;

Why are you using ViewData instead of view models and strongly typed views which would make your code much more clear/safer/Intellisense enabled, ...? Why are you using dictionaries instead of some simpler types? Like for example a view model:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string SelectedState { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> States { get; set; }
}

and a controller:

public ActionResult Foo()
{
    var states = new States().GetStates();
    var model = new MyViewModel
    {
        States = states.Select(x => new SelectListItem
        {
            Value = x.Key,
            Text = x.Value
        })
    };
    return View(model);
}

and a strongly typed view:

<%= Html.DropDownList(
    x => x.SelectedState, 
    new SelectList(Model.States, "Value", "Text"), 
    null, 
    new { @class = "ddlAttributeGroups" }
) %>

See how easy it is?