I have a need to give the users the ability to update a dropdown and apply that to their submission

Question

I have an application that I am writing in ASP.NET MVC 2 following the Nerd Dinner tutorial. I am very much a beginner and was looking for examples/tutorials I could follow that would enable me to learn how to code the following scenario:

• A user has the option to select an option from a dropdown.
• If the option is not there then they can enter a new option and add it to the database and list in the dropdown.
• I would like this to be done without the user leaving the page and what they have entered so far.
• I am using a simple Entity Framework 4.0 model which I have built a repository on top of so I have methods I can call to save the filled in user information.
• If the entry already exists in the database then I would like to offer the user the chance to either select that entry or to continue adding the entry they request because it can be a list of names and of course you can have more than one person with the same name.

Answer 1

I have implemeted this and it follows the following workflow:

1) Provide a button next to the select list to add items

2) Populate the drop-downlist when the page loads

3) When the add button is clicked, implement the UI as you like, we use a jquery dialog box.

4) Post the value to a view (via jQuery Ajax) The view should return a JsonResult

5) Check to see if the item exists, get existing id if exists or add and get new id

6) Returns a JsonResult that contains the new list and the id

7) In the reply to the ajax post, repopulate the select list using jquery and select the item.

HTH