using Enum for dropdownlist in databasefirst mvc

Question

I have a field in Model(tablaMetadata) with boolian field for gender as below: (I work with database first MVC)

 [DisplayName("gender")]
 [Display(Name = "gender")]
 public Nullable<bool> EmpSex { get; set; }

I want to get value from EmpSex as "Male" or "Female" by dropdownlist , then convert it to boolean (for posting form to database). I define Enum as below:

public enum gender
{
    Male=1,
    Female=0
}

I don't Know How can I use htmlhelper for Enumdropdownlist and convert string value of dropdownlist to boolean. Can you help me to define dropdownlist for Enum and converting values?

Answer 1

In your view you can create the dropdown like this

Create the list from enum like this

@{ 
    var genderList = Enum.GetValues(typeof(Gender)).OfType<Gender>().Select(m => new { Text = m.ToString(), Value = (int)m }).ToList(); 
}

and create the DropDown like this

@Html.DropDownList("EmpSex", new SelectList(genderList, "Value", "Text", Model.EmpSex))

or

@Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.EmpSex, new SelectList(genderList, "Value", "Text", Model.EmpSex))