html.dropdownlist MVC3 confusion

This works for me but how do I do the same thing using html.dropdownlist?

Notice that the value passed is not the value that is shown to the user.

@model IEnumerable<MVR.Models.ViewIndividual>

<h2>Level1</h2>    
<select>
        @foreac开发者_JAVA百科h (var item in Model) {
        <option value="@item.Case_Number">@item.Patient_Lastname , 
                                          @item.Patient_Firstname
        </option>
}
</select>

As always in an ASP.NET MVC application you start by defining a view model:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string SelectedIndividual { get; set; }
    public SelectList Individuals { get; set; }
}

then you write a controller action that populates this view model from some data source or something:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    // TODO : fetch those from your repository
    var values = new[]
    {
        new { Value = "1", Text = "item 1" },
        new { Value = "2", Text = "item 2" },
        new { Value = "3", Text = "item 3" },
    };

    var model = new MyViewModel
    {
        Individuals = new SelectList(values, "Value", "Text")
    };
    return View(model);
}

and finally you have a strongly typed view using strongly typed helpers:

@model MyViewModel
@Html.DropDownListFor(
    x => x.SelectedIndividual,
    Model.Individuals
)

This being said, because I see that you are not using any view models in your application, you could always try the following ugliness (not recommended, do this at your own risk):

@model IEnumerable<MVR.Models.ViewIndividual>

<h2>Level1</h2>
@Html.DropDownList(
    "SelectedIndividual",
    new SelectList(
        Model.Select(
            x => new { 
                Value = x.Case_Number, 
                Text = string.Format(
                    "{0}, {1}", 
                    x.Patient_Lastname, 
                    x.Patient_Firstname
                ) 
            }
        ), 
        "Value", 
        "Text"
    )
)

Of course such pornography is not something that I would recommend to ever write in a view and I wouldn't recommend even to my worst enemies.

Conclusion: In an ASP.NET MVC application you should always be using view models and strongly typed views with strongly typed helpers (see first part of my answer).

Here is the full example

  public class PageModel
    {
        [Display(Name = "Page ID")]
        public Guid ID { get; set; }
        [Display(Name = "Page Type ID")]
        public Guid PageTypeID { get; set; }
        [Display(Name = "Title")]
        public string Title { get; set; }
        [Display(Name = "Page Type Name")]
        public string PageTypeName { get; set; }
        [Display(Name = "Html Content")]
        public string HtmlContent { get; set; }
        public SelectList PageTypeList { get; set; }
    }

the C# code

public ActionResult Edit(Guid id)
{
    var model = db.Pages.Where(p => p.ID == id).FirstOrDefault();


    var typeList = new SelectList(db.PageTypes.OrderBy(s => s.Name).ToList(), "ID", "Name");
    var viewModel = new PageModel { PageTypeList = typeList };
    viewModel.HtmlContent = model.HtmlContent;
    viewModel.ID = model.ID;
    viewModel.PageTypeID = Guid.Parse(model.PageTypeID.ToString());
    viewModel.Title = model.Title;


    return View(viewModel);
}

[HttpPost]
[ValidateInput(false)]
[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
public ActionResult Edit(PageModel page)
{
    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        var model = db.Pages.Where(p => p.ID == page.ID).FirstOrDefault();
        model.Title = page.Title;
        model.HtmlContent = page.HtmlContent;
        model.PageTypeID = page.PageTypeID;

        db.SaveChanges();
        return RedirectToAction("Index");
    }
    return View(page);
}

and lastly html

@model competestreet.com.Models.PageModel
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Edit";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_LayoutCMS.cshtml";
}
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $('#HtmlContent').ckeditor();
    });
</script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/ckeditor/ckeditor.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/ckeditor/adapters/jquery.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<h2 class="title">
    <span class="text-cms">CM<span>S</span></span></h2>
<div class="box">
    <div class="t">
    </div>
    <div class="c">
        <div class="content">
            <div class="main-holder">
                <div id="sidebar">
                    <ul>
                        <li><a href="@Url.Content("~/Cms/Index")">Home</a></li>
                        <li><a href="@Url.Content("~/Pages/Index")">Pages</a></li>
                    </ul>
                </div>
                <div id="content" style="min-height: 500px;">
                    @using (Html.BeginForm())
                    {
                        @Html.ValidationSummary(true)
                        <fieldset>
                            <legend>Page Type -  @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.PageTypeID, Model.PageTypeList)
                             @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.PageTypeID)</legend>
                            <div class="editor-label">
                                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Title)
                            </div>
                            <div class="editor-field">
                                @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Title, new { @class = "text-box" })
                                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Title)
                            </div>
                            <div class="clear">
                            </div>
                            <div class="editor-label">
                                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.HtmlContent)
                            </div>
                            <div class="editor-field">
                                @Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.HtmlContent, new { @name = "Editor1", @class = "Editor1" })
                                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.HtmlContent)
                            </div>
                            <div class="clear">
                            </div>


                            <p>
                                <input type="submit" value="Save" class="input-btn" />
                            </p>
                        </fieldset>
                    }
                    <div>
                        @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index")
                    </div>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="b">
    </div>
</div>