DropDownListFor with different label text

I have some classes

class Foo 
{
    public int id;
    public int barId;
    public virtual Bar Bar;
}

class Bar 
{
    public int id;
    [Display(Name = "BarDispName")]
    public string name;
}

public class FooMap : EntityTypeConfiguration<Foo>
{
    public FooMap()
    {
        // Primary Key
        this.HasKey(t => t.id);

        // Relationships
        this.HasRequired(t => t.Bar)
            .WithMany(t => t.Foos)
            .HasForeignKey(d => d.barId);
    }
}

The closes thing I need is

@Html.Bootstrap().ControlGroup().DropDownListFor(m => m.barId, ViewBag.barId as IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)

The problem is that generated label is ‘bar Id*’, but I want it to be the same as

@Html.LabelFor(m => m.Bar.name)

plus ‘*’ if needed.

So I suggest to add an overload to DropDownListFor with two expressions:

• For ‘Required’ rules (adding *) and for attributes like

  label.for, select.{id, name, data-val-required, data-val-number}
  

• For text of the label

If there is a way to do it now, I would be glad to know about it.

[DmitryEfimenko]

I believe the functionality you are looking for is achieved through extension method .Label():

@(Html.Bootstrap().ControlGroup().DropDownListFor(m => m.barId, ViewBag.barId as IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)
    .Label().LabelText(Model.Bar.name).ShowRequiredStar(true))

Let me know if this works out for you.

[DmitryEfimenko]

I still do not quite understand the whole thing that you are trying to do. The whole thing feels to be a bit wrong if you need to write so much customization. Though I don’t care that much 😃

The verdict is that if you can construct this with the use of regular html helpers, you should be able to achieve the same with BMVC’s custom control.

Based on the code you showed me I tried to reproduce the same logic with BMVC, but found that BMVC .DropDownList method does not have overload that you need. The one that does not require List<SelectListItem> and takes optionLabel. This is a bug and it will be fixed in upcoming release (which should happen today or tomorrow).

When it’s fixed you would be able to achieve the same by writing this:

@(Html.Bootstrap().ControlGroup()
   .CustomControls(Html.Bootstrap().DropDownList("makerId", ""))
   .LabelFor(m => m.Maker.name))

As for the label’s for attribute, you can use htmlAttributes to set it:

// BMVC:
.LabelFor(m => m.Maker.name).HtmlAttributes(new { @For = "makerId" })

// Regular helper:
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.Maker.name, new { @For = "makerId" })

Important: Notice uppercase “F” in the “For”. It is needed to override default “for” value.