c# - Adding SelectListItem manually to SelectList to use in DropDownListFor -

when create seleclist wish able add seleclistitem's manually , use code:

list<selectlistitem> provinces = new list<selectlistitem>(); provinces.add(new selectlistitem() { text = "northern cape", value = "nc" }); provinces.add(new selectlistitem() { text = "free state", value = "fs" }); provinces.add(new selectlistitem() { text = "western cape", value = "wc" });  selectlist lstprovinces = new selectlist(provinces); 

instead of :

var lstprovinces = new selectlist(new[] { "northern cape", "free state", "western cape" }); 

after created selectlist, pass dropdownlistfor via viewbag :

html.dropdownlistfor(m => m.startpointprovince, (selectlist)viewbag.provinces) 

however when create selectlist using first method, doesn't work - adds 3 values dropdown list, values display as: *screenshot of output

however when use second method, works fine. wish use first method because want able specify text , value of each item.

the problem selectlist(ienumerable) constructor doesn't accept selectlistitem's (at least not selectlistitem add items collection). accepts collection of arbitrary objects used generate unrelated internal selectlistitems collection.

if want, can use selectlist(ienumerable, string, string) constructor in such way:

list<selectlistitem> provinces = new list<selectlistitem>(); provinces.add(new selectlistitem() { text = "northern cape", value = "nc" }); provinces.add(new selectlistitem() { text = "free state", value = "fs" }); provinces.add(new selectlistitem() { text = "western cape", value = "wc" });  this.viewbag.provinces = new selectlist(provinces, "value", "text"); 

it work. unnecessary, because create complex selectlistitem items won't used selectlist - treat them other data object.

in same way can use other simpler class in place of selectlistitem:

public class selectlistmodel {     public string text { get; set; }     public string value { get; set; } }  ... provinces.add(new selectlistmodel() { text = "northern cape", value = "nc" });