Filling in the SelectList with a for loop - asp.net-mvc-4

Question

Ok, my drop down used to be made like so:
<select id="Level" onchange="showChoice(this.value);">
<option id="0" value="0">Pick a Level</option>
#for (int i =1; i <= Model.ExamplesCount; i++ )
{
<option id="#i" value="#i">Level #i</option>
}
</select>
because the ExamplesCount number changes per user. But I need to use the Html.ValidationMessageFor() thing, which I can't get to work with this.
I need one of two solutions.
Can I make Html.ValidationMessageFor() work with this select tag?
or if not,
2.Can I use Html.DropDownListFor() but fill it in with a similar for loop?
For example,
#Html.DropDownListFor(
m => m.Level,
new SelectList(
new List<Object> {
new {value = 0, text ="Pick a Level"},
new { value = 1, text = "Level 1"},
new { value = 2, text = "Level 2" },
new { value = 3, text = "Level 3" },
new { value = 4, text = "Level 4" },
new { value = 5, text = "Level 5" }
},
"value", "text", null))
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Level)
The above code works, but where I am hard coding all the SelectList values, I'd like to have an for loop that does it for me.

Answer 1

What about creating a object in your model that will content all the items you want an then pass that to your view? Example:
In your Model.
public class Model{
...other properties
public List<ListItemSource> myLevels { get; set; }
[Required(ErrorMessage = #"*Required")]
public string Level { get; set; }
}
In your controller:
public ActionResult YourAction(Model myModel)
{
var myModel = new Model
{
myLevels =methodToGetLevels()
};
return view(myModel);
}
In your View:
#Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Level,
new SelectList(Model.myLevels, "Value", "Text"))
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Level)
Where x.Level will hold the selected value and Model.myLevels is the collection of levels.
I hope this help to solve your problem.