Dynamically Add Item to DropDownList in a form - forms

Question

I have a question and maybe someone could help me find the best solution. I want a user to be able to add items to a drop down list dynamically in a form. I have a form with text boxes and drop down lists and want the user to be able to add items to the drop down list if they don't find it. I would make the drop down lists text boxes but I want to try and keep the names consistent. An example of a form would be have the user enter a name and then have drop down lists for colors and shapes. If the user does not see the color in the drop down I want them to be able to click a link next to the drop down and enter the name or the color. Another link to add shapes to the drop down list.
I'm trying to do this in an MVC Razor environment. I tried using partial views by having the link open a modal box of a partial view to enter the name, but then I have a form within a form and cannot submit the inner form. If I open a small window to enter the name then how do I add it back to the original parent window form without loosing what they already entered in the text box? I know there has to be a good solution out there.

Answer 1

If you want the users new input to be saved for later use, you could use Ajax to submit the new data into the database, and then have the controller return a partial view with your new dropdown.
So your dropdown would be an action Like this:
public PartialViewResult Dropdown()
{
var model = new DropdownModel()
{
Data = yourdata;
}
return PartialView("Dropdown.cshtml", model)
}
And your action to insert new data would look something like this:
public PartialViewResult AddDataToDropdown(string data)
{
var newDropdown = repository.AddData(data);
var model = new DropdownModel()
{
Data = newDropdown;
}
return PartialView("Dropdown.cshtml", model)
}
So bascially, you can resplace the HTML in the div that contains the dropdown with Ajax like this:
$(".someButton").on("click", function () {
var newData = ("$someTextbox").val();
$.ajax({
url: "/YourController/AddDataToDropdown",
type: "GET",
data: { data: newData}
})
.success(function (partialView) {
$(".someDiv").html(partialView);
});
});
This way you save the data and the dropdown is refreshed without refreshing the entire page