ASP.NET MVC: Creating localized DropDownLists for enums

A collection of HTML helpers that generate DropDownlists for enums, with or without localization support.

<strong>Table of contents</strong>
<ul>
	<li><a title="HTML Helpers Overview" href="#section0">HTML Helpers Overview</a></li>
	<li><a title="Some examples" href="#section1">Some examples - Basic usage</a></li>
	<ul>
		<li><a href="#section1-1">Setting the name of the element and default empty item text</a></li>
		<li><a href="#section1-2">Using [Description] attribute</a></li>
		<li><a href="#section1-3">Using custom HTML attributes</a></li>
	</ul>
	<li><a title="More examples - Localization support" href="#section2">More examples - Localization support</a></li>
	<ul>
		<li><a href="#section2-1">Using [LocalizationEnum] attribute</a></li>
		<li><a href="#section2-2">Specifying the resource object type</a></li>
	</ul>
	<li><a href="#section-references">References</a></li>
	<li><a href="#section-downloads">Downloads</a></li>
</ul>


<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section0"></a>
<h2 style="border-bottom: 1px solid #3366ff; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">HTML Helpers Overview
</span></h2>

I've created a set of HTML helpers that generate a DropDownList for an enum.
Those helpers are similar to <a title="[MSDN] SelectExtensions.DropDownList Method" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.html.selectextensions.dropdownlist.aspx" target="_blank">SelectExtensions.DropDownList Method</a> and 
<a title="[MSDN] SelectExtensions.DropDownListFor Method" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.html.selectextensions.dropdownlist.aspx" target="_blank">SelectExtensions.DropDownListFor Method </a>, 
with the only difference being that the those helpers will populate the DropDownList with the elements of the specified enum.








<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section1"></a>
<h2 style="border-bottom: 1px solid #3366ff; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">Some examples - Basic usage</span></h2>
Let's assume the following model:
[sourcecode language="csharp"]
public enum WeekDay
{
	Sunday,
	Monday,
	Tuesday,
	Wednesday,
	Thursday,
	Friday,
	Saturday
}

public class WeeklyEvent
{
	public string Title { get; set; }
	public WeekDay Day { get; set; }
	public WeekDay? AnotherDay { get; set; }
}
[/sourcecode]


<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section1-1"></a>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Setting the name of the element and default empty item text</strong></h3>
This is the most basic usage, the generated text will be <strong><i>enumValue</i>.ToString()</strong>:
[sourcecode language="html"]
@Html.EnumDropDownList<WeekDay>("eventDay", "Select an item") // name="eventDay"

@Html.EnumDropDownListFor<WeeklyEvent, WeekDay>(x => x.Day, "Select an item") // name="Day"
[/sourcecode]

Html.EnumDropDownListFor works with nullables too:
[sourcecode language="html"]
@Html.EnumDropDownListFor<WeeklyEvent, WeekDay>(x => x.AnotherDay, "Select an item") 
[/sourcecode]



<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section1-2"></a>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Using [Description] attribute</strong></h3>
If you don't like the generated text, you can customize it using <a title="System.ComponentModel.DescriptionAttribute" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.descriptionattribute.aspx">DescriptionAttribute</a>:

[sourcecode language="csharp"]
public enum WeekDay
{
	[Description("Domingo")]
	Sunday,

	[Description("Segunda")]
	Monday,

	[Description("Terça")]
	Tuesday,

	[Description("Quarta")]
	Wednesday,

	[Description("Quinta")]
	Thursday,

	[Description("Sexta")]
	Friday,

	[Description("Sábado")]
	Saturday
}
[/sourcecode]

<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section1-3"></a>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Using custom HTML attributes</strong></h3>
Just like <a title="[MSDN] SelectExtensions.DropDownList Method" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.html.selectextensions.dropdownlist.aspx" target="_blank">SelectExtensions.DropDownList Method</a> and <a title="[MSDN] SelectExtensions.DropDownListFor Method" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.html.selectextensions.dropdownlist.aspx" target="_blank">SelectExtensions.DropDownListFor Method </a>, you can use custom HTML attributes
[sourcecode language="html"]
@(Html.EnumDropDownList<WeekDay>("eventDay", "Select an item", new { @class="select"})) 

@(Html.EnumDropDownListFor<WeeklyEvent, WeekDay>(x => x.Day, "Select an item" , new { @class="select"}))
[/sourcecode]








<a style="color: #ffffff; margin-top: 40px;" name="section2"></a><!--more-->
<h2 style="border-bottom: 1px solid #3366ff; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">More examples - Localization support</span></h2>
The resource file keys for the enum values have the following naming convention: <strong>{EnumName}.{EnumValue}</strong>
Considering the following resource - type <strong>MyResources</strong>:

<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section2-1"></a>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Using [LocalizationEnum] attribute</strong></h3>
Just set the [LocalizationEnum] attribute to the enum, specifying the type of the resource object:
[sourcecode language="csharp"]
[LocalizationEnum(typeof(MyResources))]
public enum WeekDay
{
	Sunday,
	Monday,
	Tuesday,
	Wednesday,
	Thursday,
	Friday,
	Saturday
}
[/sourcecode]

The usage is the same as the previous examples:
[sourcecode language="html"]
@Html.EnumDropDownList<WeekDay>("selectDay", "")
[/sourcecode]



<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section2-2"></a>
<h3 style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Specifying the resource object type</strong></h3>
If you can't or don't want to use the [LocalizationEnum] attribute, you can specify the resource type using the following helpers:

[sourcecode language="html"]
@(Html.EnumDropDownList<WeekDay, MyResources>("selectDay", ""))

@(Html.EnumDropDownListFor<WeeklyEvent, WeekDay, MyResources>(x => x.Day, "", new {id = "myEventDay"}))
[/sourcecode]














<a style="color: #ffffff; margin-top: 40px;" name="section-references"></a>
<h2 style="border-bottom: 1px solid #3366ff; font-size: 14pt; margin-top: 20px;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">References</span></h2>
<a title="ASP.NET MVC - Creating a DropDownList helper for enums" href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/stuartleeks/archive/2010/05/21/asp-net-mvc-creating-a-dropdownlist-helper-for-enums.aspx" target="_blank">ASP.NET MVC - Creating a DropDownList helper for enums</a>

<a title="[MSDN] SelectExtensions Class" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.mvc.html.selectextensions.aspx" target="_blank">[MSDN] SelectExtensions Class</a>


<a style="color: #fff; margin-top: 20px;" name="section-downloads"></a>
<h2 style="border-bottom: 1px solid #3366ff; font-size: 14pt;"><span style="color: #3366ff;">Downloads</span></h2>
Download the demo project: <a title="MvcEnumDropDonwList.zip" href="https://docs.google.com/uc?id=0B411XiA1vaSzOWQ0ZTZhMGYtZDZiMS00Y2RkLWJiMGEtMDYyM2YyZGZkNGNj&amp;export=download" target="_blank">MusicStore-Resources.rar</a>
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