Populate dropdown from database and saving to database - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have two tables, Location and Job
When I want to create a new job, I can select the location from a drop down list which is populated from the location table.
My create view:
public ActionResult Create(CreateJobViewModel model)
{
model.Locations = repository.GetAllLocations()
.Select(x => new SelectListItem { Text = x.State, Value = x.LocationId.ToString() })
.ToList();
return View(model);
}
and my view model:
public class CreateJobViewModel
{
public Job Job { get; set; }
public IList<SelectListItem> Locations { get; set; }
public int SelectLocationId { get; set; }
}
This all works fine, but how do i get the selected value from the drop down box and then save that value in the foreign key field of the Job table?
My post action looks like this:
[HttpPost]
[Authorize(Roles = "Employer")]
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
public ActionResult Create(Job job)
{
repository.AddJob(job);
return RedirectToAction("Create");
}
The post action uses Job entity and the get action uses CreateJobViewModel, during my previous projects, I only either do create or I display, I never come into a situation like this.
I am thinking something of passing the model between views???
and in my create view, I don't know which model i should use, the view model "CreateJobViewModel" or "Job" entity?
#model foo.CreateJobViewModel
or
#model foo.Job
How can I link the two models???

Answer 1

Here is some code of mine, similar to your problem, you can modify it by your requirements. Hope it helps.
Controller:
public ActionResult Create()
{
string selected = (from cat in dc.Category
join sub in dc.SubCategory on cat.Id equals sub.SubCategoryId
select cat.Name).First();
ViewBag.Category = new SelectList(dc.Category, "Id", "Name", selected);
var model = new SubCategory();
return View(model);
}
View:
<div> Category:</div>
<div>
#Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.CategoryId, (IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.Category,
new { #class = "form-control" })
</div>

Answer 2

You should use view model in the create and then use custom mapping logic to make Job entity and send to your business or data layer.
You can use Auto mapper for mapping between the entities.

Answer 3

You are thinking about this wrong. Why do you have a Job view model and a Job business object?
Your view should only know about the view model, your controller should (how you have this setup) knows about both the view model and business model, and the repository only knows about the business model.
Have the Post action return a Job View Model. Then convert the View Model to a model in the controller and pass to the repository.
There are several ways you could do this, doing this by hand in the controller, doing this in the constructor of the business object, or utilizing an automapper.
My preference is to create a new constructor for the business object that accepts a view model and copy the properties over that I need (and I do it from model to view model as well).