LINQ to Entities error when trying to bind a dropdownlist - entity-framework

Question

I am trying to create a viewmodel and add a SelectListItem to allow me to bind a dropdown list.
I have a very basic viewmodel that looks like this
public class CreatePurchaseViewModel
{
public Product Product { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Products { get; set; }
public int SelectedProductId { get; set; }
public DateTime OrderDate { get; set; }
public bool OrderSent { get; set; }
}
My controller looks like this
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Create()
{
var model = new CreatePurchaseViewModel
{
Products = context.Products.Select(x =>
new SelectListItem()
{
Text = x.ProductName,
Value = x.ProductID
})
};
return View(model);
}
However it complains that Value = x.Product cant convert type int to string. So if I add a .ToString it compiles ok but when I try load the view I get an error
LINQ to Entities does not recognize the method 'System.String ToString()' method, and this method cannot be translated into a store expression.
My View
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<fieldset>
<legend>CreatePurchaseViewModel</legend>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.SelectedProductId)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedProductId,Model.Products)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.SelectedProductId)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.OrderDate)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.TextBoxFor(model=>model.OrderDate)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.OrderDate)
</div>
<div>
Sent
#Html.RadioButtonFor(model => model.OrderSent, "Sent", new { #checked = true })
Not Sent
#Html.RadioButtonFor(model=>model.OrderSent,"Not Sent")
Im pretty new to both entity framework and mvc so any help would be great.
Thank you

Answer 1

You haven't specified how does your Product model look like but we can assume that the ProductID property is integer so you might need to convert it to a string:
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Create()
{
var model = new CreatePurchaseViewModel
{
Products = context.Products.Select(x =>
new SelectListItem
{
Text = x.ProductName,
Value = x.ProductID.ToString()
}
)
};
return View(model);
}