Creating a Month Dropdown in C# ASP.NET MVC

Question

This method seems stupid and a bit heavy; is there a more optimal way of creating the same thing (its for an MVC View Dropdown)

private List<KeyValuePair<int, string>> getMonthListDD
{
    get
    {
        var dDur = new List<KeyValuePair<int, string>>();
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(1, "January"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(2, "Febuary"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(3, "March"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(4, "April"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(5, "May"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(6, "June"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(7, "July"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(8, "August"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(9, "September"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(10, "October"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(11, "November"));
        dDur.Add(new KeyValuePair<int, string>(12, "December"));

        return dDur;
    }
}

Answer 1

Why can't you use Dictionary<int, string> instead of List<KeyValuePair<int, string>>

for(int i=1; i<=12; i++)
    myDict.Add(i, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.GetMonthName(i));

Answer 2

You could try something like:

Dictionary<int, string> dDur = new Dictionary<int, string>();

for (int i = 1; i <= 12; i++)
{
    dDur.Add(i, CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.DateTimeFormat.GetMonthName(i));
}

return dDur;

Remember and add a using directive for System.Globalization at the top of your class.

Answer 3

In your view model you could have a Months property:

public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Months
{
    get 
    {
        return DateTimeFormatInfo
               .InvariantInfo
               .MonthNames
               .Select((monthName, index) => new SelectListItem
               {
                   Value = (index + 1).ToString(),
                   Text = monthName
               });
    }
}

which could be directly bound to a DropDownListFor:

<%= Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedMonth, Model.Months) %>

Answer 4

Based on darins simple and elegant reply, i thought I'd share the little helper method that i refactored as a result of seeing this:

public static string ComboDaysOfWeek(this HtmlHelper helper, string id, string selectedValue)
{
    var newitems = DateTimeFormatInfo
        .InvariantInfo
        .DayNames
        .Select((dayName, index) => new SelectListItem
        {
            Value = (index + 1).ToString(),
            Text = dayName,
            Selected = (selectedValue == (index + 1).ToString())
        });

    var result = helper.DropDownList(id, newitems).ToHtmlString();
    return result;
}

usage:

<%= Html.ComboDaysOfWeek("ActivityStartDay", Model.ActivityStartDay)%>

cheers

jim

[edit] - this is in MVC2, therefore the .ToHtmlString() is added to the helper.DropDownList() method.