ViewData Error-Using ViewData passes data from controller to view

Question

I want to pass data from controller to view. In my Dinner control, I have a Edit action. The code is

//
// GET: /Dinner/Edit/5

public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
    var dinner = _repository.GetDinner(id);
    ViewData["Countries"] = new SelectList(PhoneValidator.AllCountries, dinner.Country);
    return View(dinner);
}

Then, I want to use a dropdown list to display countries's information in Edit view page. My code is

<div class="editor-label">
    @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Country)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
    @Html.DropDownList("Country", ViewData["Countries"] as SelectList)
    @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Country)
</div>

Then, I get an error in this line

@Html.DropDownList("Country", ViewData["Countries"] as SelectList)

The error information is

The ViewData item that has the key 'Country' is of type 'System.String' but must be of  type 'IEnumerable<SelectListItem>'

Note:

• I do have a "Country" property in my Dinner table. The type of Country is String.
• I think "Country" in the error line is just defining the displaying name in the form of this field. So the error seems inresonabel.

• I have a class name DinnerViolation, I this class, I have a get method to retrive allcontries which I used in my Edit controller to set the value of SelectList, please check the code:

      public class PhoneValidator
      {
          static IDictionary<string, Regex> countryRegex = new Dictionary<string, Regex>() {           
          { "USA", new Regex("^[2-9]\\d{2}-\\d{3}-\\d{4}$")},            
          { "UK", new Regex("(^1300\\d{6}$)|(^1800|1900|1902\\d{6}$)|(^0[2|3|7|8]{1}[0-9]{8}$)|(^13\\d{4}$)|(^04\\d{2,3}\\d{6}$)")},            
          { "Netherlands", new Regex("(^\\+[0-9]{2}|^\\+[0-9]{2}\\(0\\)|^\\(\\+[0-9]{2}\\)\\(0\\)|^00[0-9]{2}|^0)([0-9]{9}$|[0-9\\-\\s]{10}$)")},    
          };
          public static bool IsValidNumber(string phoneNumber, string country)
          {
              if (country != null && countryRegex.ContainsKey(country))
                  return countryRegex[country].IsMatch(phoneNumber);
              else
                  return false;
          }
          public static IEnumerable<string> AllCountries
          {
              get
              {
                  return countryRegex.Keys;
              }
          }
  
      }
  

  }

Any helps?Thanks

Answer 1

You are returning an IEnumerable<string>

public static IEnumerable<string> AllCountries
{
    get
    {
       return countryRegex.Keys;
    }
}

When you need to return an IEnumerable<SelectListItem>

Something like this (not tested):

public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> AllCountries
{
    get
    {
       var countries = new List<SelectListItem>();
       foreach(var country in countryRegex.Keys)
       {
           countries.Add(SelectListItem() { Text = country, Value = country };
       }
       return countries;
    }
}