better way to fill dropdown list in mvc - html

Question

I have tried to create dropdown list with tag
<select name="manufacturer" class="form-control">
<option>#null</option>
#foreach (var item in Model) {
<option>#item.Manufacturer</option>
}
</select><br>
but here is a problem: It doesn't populate all available manufacturers and only shows items, from current page. Example: http://i.imgur.com/na0x5eQ.png
that's because it uses the model passed from controller which doesn't always contain every item from the database. (because of pagination or after search)
Here is full sidebar code in partial view
#model IPagedList<Products>
#using PagedList
#using PagedList.Mvc
<div id="filter" class="left">
#using (Html.BeginForm("Filter", "SearchFilter")) {
<div>
<b>Manufacturer:</b> <br>
<select name="manufacturer" class="form-control">
<option>#null</option>
#foreach (var item in Model) {
<option>#item.Manufacturer</option>
}
</select><br>
<b>Name:</b> <br>#Html.TextBox("name", null)<br>
<b>Price From:</b> <br>#Html.TextBox("min", null)<br>
<b>To:</b> <br>#Html.TextBox("max", null)<br>
<button type="submit" value="search"><b>Search</b></button>
</div>
}
</div>
So what are the ways to fix this?

Answer 1

Since you know why it's occurring
that's because it uses the model passed from controller which doesn't always contain every item from the database. (because of pagination or after search)
then why not fix it right there. Maybe you need a separate validation table for manufacturers (if you don't already have one).
Model:
public class ProductsModel
{
public IPagedList<Products> CurrentProducts {get; set;}
public int ManufacturerId {get; set;}
public int MinPrice{get; set;}
public int MaxPrice{get; set;}
}
Controller action:
[HttpGet]
public ViewResult CurrentProducts()
{
ProductsModel model = new ProductsModel();
model.CurrentProducts = _repository.Product;
ViewBag.ManufacturerId = from p in _repository.Product select p.Manufacturer;
return View(model);
}
[HttpPost]
public ViewResult CurrentProducts(ProductsModel model)
{
if(ModelState.IsValid)
{
model.CurrentProducts = _repository.Product.Where(t=>t.ManufacturerId == model.ManufacturerId);
ViewBag.ManufacturerId = from p in _repository.Product select p.Manufacturer;
}
return View(model);
}
And in the view, create a dropdown list like this:
#model MyNameSpace.ProductsModel
#Html.DropDownListFor(model=> model.ManufacturerId, string.Empty);