I'm wondering if I need to create a custom HtmlHelper to simply display a value as a span.
Currently I'm using:
#model string
#{
var htmlAttributes = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(ViewData["htmlAttributes"]);
}
<span class="#htmlAttributes["class"]">#Model</string>
I'm just wondering if there already exists something like #Html.Label so I could do:
#model string
#Html.SomethingLikeSpan("", Model, #ViewData["htmlAttributes"])
Not yet, but you can extend the Helpers object with any tag combination you wish.
Add a class file named HtmlHelperExtensions.cs with the following code:
using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace WebApplication1
{
public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
{
public static IHtmlString Span(this HtmlHelper Helper, string Content, string Class = "")
{
string classstring = Class == "" ? "" : string.Format(" class=\"{0}\" ", Class);
string htmlString = String.Format("<span{1}>{0}</span>", Content, classstring);
return new HtmlString(htmlString);
}
}
}
Then in your view, use the following to format anything with the new helper extension:
#using WebApplication1
#Html.Span("Test Content")
#Html.Span("Test with class", "btn btn-primary")
I know this post is quite old but I'm going to post what I used to accomplish a very basic version of the #Html.Span and #Html.SpanFor helpers. I'll post for both .netcore and MVC5. I hope this helps people out!
MVC 5 implementation
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
using System.Web.Mvc;
public static class HMTLHelperExtensions
{
public static MvcHtmlString Span(this HtmlHelper Helper, string Name, string Content, object HtmlAttributes)
{
var htmlAttributes = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(HtmlAttributes);
TagBuilder tag = new TagBuilder("Span");
tag.MergeAttribute("name", TagBuilder.CreateSanitizedId(Name));
tag.GenerateId(Name);
tag.InnerHtml = Content;
foreach(var i in htmlAttributes )
{
tag.MergeAttribute(i.Key, i.Value.ToString());
}
return MvcHtmlString.Create(tag.ToString());
}
public static MvcHtmlString Span(this HtmlHelper Helper, string Name, string Content)
{
TagBuilder tag = new TagBuilder("Span");
tag.MergeAttribute("name", TagBuilder.CreateSanitizedId(Name));
tag.GenerateId(Name);
tag.InnerHtml = Content;
return MvcHtmlString.Create(tag.ToString());
}
public static MvcHtmlString SpanFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> Helper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, string Content, object HtmlAttributes)
{
var name = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
var metaData = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, Helper.ViewData);
return Span(Helper, name, metaData.Model as string, HtmlAttributes);
}
public static MvcHtmlString SpanFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> Helper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, string Content)
{
var name = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
var metaData = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, Helper.ViewData);
return Span(Helper, name, metaData.Model as string);
}
}
and here is the .netcore implementation
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Html;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Rendering;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures.Internal;
using System;
using System.Linq.Expressions;
public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
{
public static IHtmlContent Span(this IHtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, string Content, object htmlAttributes)
{
TagBuilder tag = new TagBuilder("Span");
tag.MergeAttribute("name", TagBuilder.CreateSanitizedId(name,""));
tag.GenerateId(name, "");
tag.InnerHtml.Append(Content);
var attributes = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes);
foreach (var i in attributes)
{
tag.MergeAttribute(i.Key, i.Value.ToString());
}
return tag;
}
public static IHtmlContent Span(this IHtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, string Content)
{
TagBuilder tag = new TagBuilder("Span");
tag.MergeAttribute("name", TagBuilder.CreateSanitizedId(name, ""));
tag.GenerateId(name, "");
tag.InnerHtml.Append(Content);
return tag;
}
public static IHtmlContent SpanFor<TModel, TProperty>(this IHtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel,TProperty>> expression, string content, object htmlAttributes)
{
var modelExplorer = ExpressionMetadataProvider.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData, htmlHelper.MetadataProvider);
var name = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
var metaData = modelExplorer.Metadata;
return Span(htmlHelper, name, modelExplorer.Model as string, htmlAttributes);
}
public static IHtmlContent SpanFor<TModel, TProperty>(this IHtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, string content)
{
var modelExplorer = ExpressionMetadataProvider.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData, htmlHelper.MetadataProvider);
var name = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
var metaData = modelExplorer.Metadata;
return Span(htmlHelper, name, modelExplorer.Model as string);
}
}
I want to point out, these will work with html attributes only if used in this format.
#Html.Span("Test", "Testing Content", new { #class = "test-class", style = "text-align:right" }
#Html.SpanFor(x=>x.ModelProperty, Model.ModelProperty, new { #class = "test-class", style = "text-align:right" }
Continuing on from this question programmatically creating a drop down list I would like my list to have several optgroup lists too. Is this currently possible?
I know I need to pass a selectList to a dropDownList but do not know how to add text, value, optgroup to the selectList.
I want the end result to produce:
<option value="">Please select</option>
<optgroup label="Option A">
<option value="1">1</option>
<option value="2">2</option>
<option value="3">3</option>
<option value="4">4</option>
</optgroup>
<optgroup label="Option B">
<option value="a">A</option>
<option value="b">B</option>
<option value="c">C</option>
</optgroup>
</option>
My extension is a bit more complicated, but it has all overloads as original DropDownList has.
Actually I've created it specially to be able to produce DropDownList with groups and to be transformed in to two joined selects with help of jDoubleSelect
using System;using System.Collections;using System.Collections.Generic;using System.Globalization; using System.Linq;using System.Linq.Expressions;using System.Text; using System.Web;using System.Web.Mvc;using System.Web.Routing;
public class GroupedSelectListItem : SelectListItem
{
public string GroupKey { get; set; }
public string GroupName { get; set; }
}
public static class HtmlHelpers
{
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, null, null, null);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, null, null);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, string optionLabel)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, null, optionLabel, null);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, null, htmlAttributes);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, object htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, null, HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes));
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, null);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupList(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel, object htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes));
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList)
{
return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, null /* optionLabel */, null /* htmlAttributes */);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, object htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, null /* optionLabel */, HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes));
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, null /* optionLabel */, htmlAttributes);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel)
{
return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, null /* htmlAttributes */);
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel, object htmlAttributes)
{
return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes));
}
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper, Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
if (expression == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("expression");
}
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes);
}
private static MvcHtmlString DropDownListHelper(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
return SelectInternal(htmlHelper, optionLabel, expression, selectList, false /* allowMultiple */, htmlAttributes);
}
// Helper methods
private static IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> GetSelectData(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string name)
{
object o = null;
if (htmlHelper.ViewData != null)
{
o = htmlHelper.ViewData.Eval(name);
}
if (o == null)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(
String.Format(
CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
"Missing Select Data"));
}
var selectList = o as IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem>;
if (selectList == null)
{
throw new InvalidOperationException(
String.Format(
CultureInfo.CurrentCulture,
"Wrong Select DataType"));
}
return selectList;
}
internal static string ListItemToOption(GroupedSelectListItem item)
{
var builder = new TagBuilder("option")
{
InnerHtml = HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(item.Text)
};
if (item.Value != null)
{
builder.Attributes["value"] = item.Value;
}
if (item.Selected)
{
builder.Attributes["selected"] = "selected";
}
return builder.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal);
}
private static MvcHtmlString SelectInternal(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string optionLabel, string name, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, bool allowMultiple, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
name = htmlHelper.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldName(name);
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(name))
{
throw new ArgumentException("Null Or Empty", "name");
}
bool usedViewData = false;
// If we got a null selectList, try to use ViewData to get the list of items.
if (selectList == null)
{
selectList = htmlHelper.GetSelectData(name);
usedViewData = true;
}
object defaultValue = (allowMultiple) ? htmlHelper.GetModelStateValue(name, typeof(string[])) : htmlHelper.GetModelStateValue(name, typeof(string));
// If we haven't already used ViewData to get the entire list of items then we need to
// use the ViewData-supplied value before using the parameter-supplied value.
if (!usedViewData)
{
if (defaultValue == null)
{
defaultValue = htmlHelper.ViewData.Eval(name);
}
}
if (defaultValue != null)
{
var defaultValues = (allowMultiple) ? defaultValue as IEnumerable : new[] { defaultValue };
var values = from object value in defaultValues select Convert.ToString(value, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
var selectedValues = new HashSet<string>(values, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
var newSelectList = new List<GroupedSelectListItem>();
foreach (var item in selectList)
{
item.Selected = (item.Value != null) ? selectedValues.Contains(item.Value) : selectedValues.Contains(item.Text);
newSelectList.Add(item);
}
selectList = newSelectList;
}
// Convert each ListItem to an <option> tag
var listItemBuilder = new StringBuilder();
// Make optionLabel the first item that gets rendered.
if (optionLabel != null)
{
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(ListItemToOption(new GroupedSelectListItem { Text = optionLabel, Value = String.Empty, Selected = false }));
}
foreach (var group in selectList.GroupBy(i => i.GroupKey))
{
string groupName = selectList.Where(i => i.GroupKey == group.Key).Select(it => it.GroupName).FirstOrDefault();
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(string.Format("<optgroup label=\"{0}\" value=\"{1}\">", groupName, group.Key));
foreach (GroupedSelectListItem item in group)
{
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(ListItemToOption(item));
}
listItemBuilder.AppendLine("</optgroup>");
}
var tagBuilder = new TagBuilder("select")
{
InnerHtml = listItemBuilder.ToString()
};
tagBuilder.MergeAttributes(htmlAttributes);
tagBuilder.MergeAttribute("name", name, true /* replaceExisting */);
tagBuilder.GenerateId(name);
if (allowMultiple)
{
tagBuilder.MergeAttribute("multiple", "multiple");
}
// If there are any errors for a named field, we add the css attribute.
ModelState modelState;
if (htmlHelper.ViewData.ModelState.TryGetValue(name, out modelState))
{
if (modelState.Errors.Count > 0)
{
tagBuilder.AddCssClass(HtmlHelper.ValidationInputCssClassName);
}
}
return MvcHtmlString.Create(tagBuilder.ToString());
}
internal static object GetModelStateValue(this HtmlHelper helper, string key, Type destinationType)
{
ModelState modelState;
if (helper.ViewData.ModelState.TryGetValue(key, out modelState))
{
if (modelState.Value != null)
{
return modelState.Value.ConvertTo(destinationType, null /* culture */);
}
}
return null;
}
}
This was added to ASP.Net MVC at version 5.2 and is now built-in.
The Group property on SelectListItem allows you to specify a group for each item:
New SelectList constructors also allow you to provide the name of the field that contains the group title on the supplied list of items.
The HtmlHelper DropDownList and DropDownListFor methods now generate optgroup elements based on the groups included on the list of items.
Easy!
I just write a extensions for do this, see it:
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.Routing;
namespace System.Web.Mvc.Html
{
public static class GroupDropListExtensions
{
public static string GroupDropList(this HtmlHelper helper, string name, IEnumerable<GroupDropListItem> data, string SelectedValue, object htmlAttributes)
{
if (data == null && helper.ViewData != null)
data = helper.ViewData.Eval(name) as IEnumerable<GroupDropListItem>;
if (data == null) return string.Empty;
var select = new TagBuilder("select");
if (htmlAttributes != null)
select.MergeAttributes(new RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes));
select.GenerateId(name);
var optgroupHtml = new StringBuilder();
var groups = data.ToList();
foreach (var group in data)
{
var groupTag = new TagBuilder("optgroup");
groupTag.Attributes.Add("label", helper.Encode( group.Name));
var optHtml = new StringBuilder();
foreach (var item in group.Items)
{
var option = new TagBuilder("option");
option.Attributes.Add("value", helper.Encode(item.Value));
if (SelectedValue != null && item.Value == SelectedValue)
option.Attributes.Add("selected", "selected");
option.InnerHtml = helper.Encode(item.Text);
optHtml.AppendLine(option.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
}
groupTag.InnerHtml = optHtml.ToString();
optgroupHtml.AppendLine(groupTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
}
select.InnerHtml = optgroupHtml.ToString();
return select.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal);
}
}
public class GroupDropListItem
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public List<OptionItem> Items { get; set; }
}
public class OptionItem
{
public string Text { get; set; }
public string Value { get; set; }
}
}
Looking through the code on www.codeplex.com/aspnet, it doesn't appear that neither the SelectList nor the DropDownList extension method supports the use of OptGroup in a select. Looks like you'll need to write your own extension method and extend SelectListItem to contain the grouping or generate the select manually in markup.
Data annotations for client validations missing?
In answer to Chrno Love's question above, adding to Serge Zab's solution - Milimetric's fix for MVC3 clientside validation attributes when using a collection of dropdowns in the same view:
public static MvcHtmlString DropDownGroupListFor<TModel, TProperty>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper,
Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>>
expression,
IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem>
selectList, string optionLabel,
IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
if (expression == null)
{
throw new ArgumentNullException("expression");
}
// fixing clientside validation attributes
// http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4799958/asp-net-mvc-3-unobtrusive-client-validation-does-not-work-with-drop-down-lists/8102022#8102022
var metadata = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData);
var mergedAttributes =
htmlHelper.GetUnobtrusiveValidationAttributes(ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), metadata);
if (htmlAttributes != null)
{
foreach (PropertyDescriptor descriptor in TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(htmlAttributes))
{
object value = descriptor.GetValue(htmlAttributes);
mergedAttributes.Add(descriptor.Name, value);
}
}
//return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes);
return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), selectList, optionLabel, mergedAttributes);
}
Serge Zab's answer was exactly what I was looking for. Being a die hard VB programmer I ported it to this VB module:
'based on Serge Zab's answer on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/607188/support-for-optgroup-in-dropdownlist-net-mvc
Imports System.Collections
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Linq
Imports System.Linq.Expressions
Imports System.Text
Imports System.Web
Imports System.Web.Mvc
Imports System.Web.Routing
Public Class GroupedSelectListItem
Inherits SelectListItem
Public Property GroupKey() As String
Get
Return m_GroupKey
End Get
Set(value As String)
m_GroupKey = Value
End Set
End Property
Private m_GroupKey As String
Public Property GroupName() As String
Get
Return m_GroupName
End Get
Set(value As String)
m_GroupName = Value
End Set
End Property
Private m_GroupName As String
End Class
Public Module HtmlHelpers
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem)) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, Nothing, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, optionLabel As String) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, Nothing, optionLabel, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, Nothing, htmlAttributes)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, Nothing, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupList(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, name, selectList, optionLabel, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem)) As MvcHtmlString
' optionLabel
' htmlAttributes
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, Nothing, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
' optionLabel
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, Nothing, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
' optionLabel
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, Nothing, htmlAttributes)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String) As MvcHtmlString
' htmlAttributes
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, Nothing)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As Object) As MvcHtmlString
Return DropDownGroupListFor(htmlHelper, expression, selectList, optionLabel, New RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes))
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Public Function DropDownGroupListFor(Of TModel, TProperty)(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper(Of TModel), expression As Expression(Of Func(Of TModel, TProperty)), selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
If expression Is Nothing Then
Throw New ArgumentNullException("expression")
End If
Return DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper, ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression), selectList, optionLabel, htmlAttributes)
End Function
Private Function DropDownListHelper(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, expression As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), optionLabel As String, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
' allowMultiple
Return SelectInternal(htmlHelper, optionLabel, expression, selectList, False, htmlAttributes)
End Function
' Helper methods
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Private Function GetSelectData(htmlHelper As HtmlHelper, name As String) As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem)
Dim o As Object = Nothing
If htmlHelper.ViewData IsNot Nothing Then
o = htmlHelper.ViewData.Eval(name)
End If
If o Is Nothing Then
Throw New InvalidOperationException([String].Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "Missing Select Data", name, "IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem>"))
End If
Dim selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem) = TryCast(o, IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem))
If selectList Is Nothing Then
Throw New InvalidOperationException([String].Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "Wrong Select DataType", name, o.[GetType]().FullName, "IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem>"))
End If
Return selectList
End Function
Friend Function ListItemToOption(item As GroupedSelectListItem) As String
Dim builder As New TagBuilder("option") With { _
.InnerHtml = HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(item.Text) _
}
If item.Value IsNot Nothing Then
builder.Attributes("value") = item.Value
End If
If item.Selected Then
builder.Attributes("selected") = "selected"
End If
Return builder.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal)
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Private Function SelectInternal(htmlHelper__1 As HtmlHelper, optionLabel As String, name As String, selectList As IEnumerable(Of GroupedSelectListItem), allowMultiple As Boolean, htmlAttributes As IDictionary(Of String, Object)) As MvcHtmlString
name = htmlHelper__1.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldName(name)
If [String].IsNullOrEmpty(name) Then
Throw New ArgumentException("Null Or Empty", "name")
End If
Dim usedViewData As Boolean = False
' If we got a null selectList, try to use ViewData to get the list of items.
If selectList Is Nothing Then
selectList = htmlHelper__1.GetSelectData(name)
usedViewData = True
End If
Dim defaultValue As Object = If((allowMultiple), htmlHelper__1.GetModelStateValue(name, GetType(String())), htmlHelper__1.GetModelStateValue(name, GetType(String)))
' If we haven't already used ViewData to get the entire list of items then we need to
' use the ViewData-supplied value before using the parameter-supplied value.
If Not usedViewData Then
If defaultValue Is Nothing Then
defaultValue = htmlHelper__1.ViewData.Eval(name)
End If
End If
If defaultValue IsNot Nothing Then
Dim defaultValues As IEnumerable = If((allowMultiple), TryCast(defaultValue, IEnumerable), New String() {defaultValue})
Dim values As IEnumerable(Of String) = From value In defaultValues Select (Convert.ToString(value, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture))
Dim selectedValues As New HashSet(Of String)(values, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase)
Dim newSelectList As New List(Of GroupedSelectListItem)()
For Each item As GroupedSelectListItem In selectList
item.Selected = If((item.Value IsNot Nothing), selectedValues.Contains(item.Value), selectedValues.Contains(item.Text))
newSelectList.Add(item)
Next
selectList = newSelectList
End If
' Convert each ListItem to an <option> tag
Dim listItemBuilder As New StringBuilder()
' Make optionLabel the first item that gets rendered.
If optionLabel IsNot Nothing Then
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(ListItemToOption(New GroupedSelectListItem() With { _
.Text = optionLabel, _
.Value = [String].Empty, _
.Selected = False _
}))
End If
For Each group As Object In selectList.GroupBy(Function(i) i.GroupKey)
Dim groupName As String = selectList.Where(Function(i) i.GroupKey = group.Key).[Select](Function(it) it.GroupName).FirstOrDefault()
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(String.Format("<optgroup label=""{0}"" value=""{1}"">", groupName, group.Key))
For Each item As GroupedSelectListItem In group
listItemBuilder.AppendLine(ListItemToOption(item))
Next
listItemBuilder.AppendLine("</optgroup>")
Next
Dim tagBuilder As New TagBuilder("select") With { _
.InnerHtml = listItemBuilder.ToString() _
}
TagBuilder.MergeAttributes(htmlAttributes)
' replaceExisting
TagBuilder.MergeAttribute("name", name, True)
TagBuilder.GenerateId(name)
If allowMultiple Then
TagBuilder.MergeAttribute("multiple", "multiple")
End If
' If there are any errors for a named field, we add the css attribute.
Dim modelState As ModelState = Nothing
If htmlHelper__1.ViewData.ModelState.TryGetValue(name, modelState) Then
If modelState.Errors.Count > 0 Then
TagBuilder.AddCssClass(HtmlHelper.ValidationInputCssClassName)
End If
End If
Return MvcHtmlString.Create(TagBuilder.ToString())
End Function
<System.Runtime.CompilerServices.Extension> _
Friend Function GetModelStateValue(helper As HtmlHelper, key As String, destinationType As Type) As Object
Dim modelState As ModelState = Nothing
If helper.ViewData.ModelState.TryGetValue(key, modelState) Then
If modelState.Value IsNot Nothing Then
' culture
Return modelState.Value.ConvertTo(destinationType, Nothing)
End If
End If
Return Nothing
End Function
End Module
I have been trying #Serge Zab solution out which works well but was having some trouble with the unobtrusive validation, after some inspection I found the problem.
There seems to be some required attributes missing off the select element if you want the Jquery validation to fire, just after you create your TagBuilder
TagBuilder tagBuilder = new TagBuilder("select");
Add these attributes
tagBuilder.MergeAttribute("data-val", "true",true);
tagBuilder.MergeAttribute("data-val-required", "your validation message", true)
and the unobtrusive validation should fire.
In Serge Zab answer, data attributes, like data_valuename, dont marging in correct form data-valuename.
I replaced code tagBuilder.MergeAttributes(htmlAttributes); in SelectInternal method to this
foreach (var htmlAttribute in htmlAttributes)
{
tagBuilder.MergeAttribute(
htmlAttribute.Key.Replace('_', '-'),
(string)htmlAttribute.Value
);
}
Just a note on using Serge's extension to create more than one select list on the same form. I was having problems getting the second select list to apply the groups, and when I examined the html being generated I realized both had been given the same id. To fix this, go into the SelectInternal function in serge's extension and comment out/delete the following two lines:
tagBuilder.MergeAttribute("name", name, true /* replaceExisting */);
tagBuilder.GenerateId(name);
Alternatively you can just pass unique id's to each (though the DropDownGroupListFor doesn't take the 'string name' parameter so you'll have to add an overload that does)
I needed a solution to handle a multiple selection with optgroup, and I used Serge Zab solution. I've just two comments about it (too long for a comment).
Despite his claims, his solution does not support all existing overloads of DropDownListFor, since it doesn't support MultiSelectList or SelectList, oftenly used in models. But that's not hard to add these.
His solution was not working for me for Multiple selection to initialize selected/not selected items from model : the initial values were not affected.
I've just modified the following method :
private static MvcHtmlString DropDownListHelper(...)
{
return SelectInternal(htmlHelper, optionLabel, expression, selectList, false /* allowMultiple */, htmlAttributes);
}
To this :
private static MvcHtmlString DropDownListHelper(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string expression, IEnumerable<GroupedSelectListItem> selectList, string optionLabel, IDictionary<string, object> htmlAttributes)
{
bool allowMultiple = htmlAttributes.ContainsKey("multiple");
return SelectInternal(htmlHelper, optionLabel, expression, selectList, allowMultiple, htmlAttributes);
}
And it worked as expected.
Of course the multiple attribute must be defined :
#Html.DropDownGroupListFor(m => m.Selected, Model.Values, new { multiple = "multiple" })
Thanks to Serge for his answer.