Add null value to DropDownList in ASP.net MVC

Question

I create a data entry interface and successfully bind columns that have reference tables for their data using DropDownList, so the user selects from pre-configured values.

Now my problem is that I do not want the first value to be selected by default, I need to force the user to select a value from the list to avoid errors when they did not select this field and a default value was assigned.

Is there a more elegant way to do this than adding code to include an empty value at the top of the list after retrieving it from the database and before passing it to the SelectList constructor in the controller class?

Answer 1

The Html helper function accepts the "first empty value" parameter as the third argument.

<%=Html.DropDownList("name",dataSource,"-please select item-")%> 

Answer 2

You can also use this method:

 dropdownlist.DataTextField = ds.Tables[0].Columns[0].Caption; dropdownlist.DataValueField = ds.Tables[0].Columns[1].Caption; dropdownlist.DataSource = ds; dropdownlist.DataBind(); dropdownlist.Items.Insert(0, new ListItem("Select ...", string.Empty));