I'm trying to create the edit form for book (with id 1), I want the selection list to select the existing author which retrieved from database. That book with id 1 has an author with id 1, but the HTML does not show selected author with id 1 for that book.
I feel like there is something wrong with the argument
ViewData["SelectedAuthors"] as IEnumerable
at MultiSelectList function
at Book.ascx source file
Another problem is, how can I use MultiSelectList to combine both "first_name" and "last_name" for text display ? I can only select "first_name"
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using BookStore.Models;
namespace BookStore.ViewModels
{
public class StoreManagerViewModel
{
public book Book { get; set; }
public List<author> Authors { get; set; }
public List<category> Categories { get; set; }
public List<int> SelectedAuthors { get; set; }
}
}
using System;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using BookStore.Models;
using BookStore.ViewModels;
namespace BookStore.Controllers
{
public class StoreManagerController : Controller
{
BookStoreEntities storeDB = new BookStoreEntities();
//
// GET: /StoreManager/Edit/5
public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
var viewModel = new StoreManagerViewModel
{
Book = storeDB.books.Single(a => a.book_id == id),
Categories = storeDB.categories.ToList(),
Authors = storeDB.authors.ToList(),
SelectedAuthors = (from a in storeDB.books.Single(b => b.book_id == id).authors
select a.author_id
).ToList()
};
//I have debug and have seen that the SelectedAuthors list has one author_id as 1
return View(viewModel);
}
}
}
Book.ascx (partial view) for the 'edit' method of StoreManagerController
<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<BookStore.Models.book>" %>
<% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%>
<%: Html.ValidationSummary(true) %>
<div class="editor-label">
<%: Html.LabelFor(model => model.authors) %>
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
<%: Html.ListBox("author_id", new MultiSelectList(ViewData["authors"] as IEnumerable, "author_id", "first_name", ViewData["SelectedAuthors"] as IEnumerable))%>
</div>
<% } %>
HTML result for the Book.ascx partial view
<select id="Book_author_id" multiple="multiple" name="Book.author_id"><option value="1">Bikkhu</option>
<option value="2">Buddha</option>
<option value="3">William</option>
<option value="4">Anthony</option>
</select>