How to store and display SelectList data - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am using SelectList to populate dropdownlists in my view. It works for the Create and Edit views to store ID value data in a table. How do I retrieve the 'Name' value to display in a Details view?
Model
Public Class Employee {
[Key]
public int ID { get; set;}
public string UserName {get; set; }
public byte Gender { get; set; }
}
ViewModel
public class EmployeeEditViewModel {
public int ID { get; set; }
public string UserName { get; set; }
public SelectList GenderList { get; set; }
public EmployeeEditViewModel () {
GenderList = CommonHelper.GenderList(null);
}
}
Helper
public static SelectList GenderList(object selected)
{
return new SelectList(new[]
{
new { Value = 0, Name = "Male" },
new { Value = 1, Name = "Female" }
}
, "Value", "Name", selected);
}
Edit View
#model Models.ViewModel.EmployeeEditViewModel
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ID)
<div class="form-group">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.UserName, htmlAttributes: new { #class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.UserName, new { htmlAttributes = new { #class = "form-control" } })
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.UserName, "", new { #class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.GenderList, htmlAttributes: new { #class = "control-label col-md-2" })
<div class="col-md-10">
#Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Gender, Model.GenderList, "- Select -", new { htmlAttributes = new { #class = "form-control" } })
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.GenderList, "", new { #class = "text-danger" })
</div>
</div>
}
Controller
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult CreateEmployee(EmployeeEditViewModel emProfile)
{
try
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
Employee newUser = new Employee();
newUser.UserName = emProfile.UserName;
newUser.Gender = emProfile.Gender;
userRepository.Add(newUser);
userRepository.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{ }
return View(emProfile);
}
So far it works great, I am able to create, edit Employee records and 1 or 0 is stored in the table for the gender.
But when I want to display the employee data in a details view how do I get the text 'Male' or 'Female'?

Answer 1

I ended up creating a helper method to retrieve the text.
public static string GetTextFromSelectList(int id, string listName)
{
string selectedText = string.Empty;
SelectListItem selectedItem;
switch (listName)
{
case "Gender":
selectedItem = Helper.CommonHelper.GenderList(null).FirstOrDefault(x => x.Value == id.ToString());
selectedText = selectedItem == null ? null : selectedItem.Text;
break;
default:
selectedText = null;
break;
}
return selectedText;
}