In this article I will explain with an example, how to pass (send) DropDownList Selected Value to Controller Action method using Html.ActionLink ASP.Net MVC Razor.
Note: For beginners in ASP.Net MVC, please refer my article ASP.Net MVC Hello World Tutorial with Sample Program example.
 
 
Model
Following is a Model class named PersonModel with four properties i.e. PersonId, Name, Gender and City.
public class PersonModel
{
    ///<summary>
    /// Gets or sets PersonId.
    ///</summary>
    public int PersonId { get; set; }
 
    ///<summary>
    /// Gets or sets Name.
    ///</summary>
    public string Name { get; set; }
 
    ///<summary>
    /// Gets or sets Gender.
    ///</summary>
    public string Gender { get; set; }
 
    ///<summary>
    /// Gets or sets City.
    ///</summary>
    public string City { get; set; }
}
 
 
Controller
Then you will need to add a Controller class to your project. There are two Action methods with the name Index, one for handling the GET operation while other for handling the POST operation.
The Action method for POST operation accepts an object of the PersonModel class as parameter. The values posted from the Form inside the View are received through this parameter.
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // GET: Home
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
 
    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Index(PersonModel person)
    {
        int personId = person.PersonId;
        string name = person.Name;
        string gender = person.Gender;
        string city = person.City;
 
        return View();
    }
}
 
 
View
Inside the View, in the very first line the PersonModel class is declared as Model for the View.
The View consists of an HTML Form which has been created using the Html.BeginForm method with the following parameters.
ActionName – Name of the Action. In this case the name is Index.
ControllerName – Name of the Controller. In this case the name is Home.
FormMethod – It specifies the Form Method i.e. GET or POST. In this case it will be set to POST.
There are three TextBox fields created for capturing values for PersonId, Name and City using the Html.TextBoxFor method. While for capturing the Gender value, a DropDownList with three options is created using the Html.DropDownListFor function.
There’s also a Submit ActionLink at the end of the Form generated using @Html.ActionLink method and when the ActionLink is clicked, the Form is submitted using jQuery.
@model ActionLink_Send_Model_MVC.Models.PersonModel
 
@{
    Layout = null;
}
 
<!DOCTYPE html>
 
<html>
<head>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"/>
    <title>Index</title>
</head>
<body>
    @using (Html.BeginForm("Index", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
    {
        <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
            <tr>
                <th colspan="2" align="center">Person Details</th>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>PersonId: </td>
                <td>
                    @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.PersonId)
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Name: </td>
                <td>
                    @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Name)
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>Gender: </td>
                <td>
                    @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.Gender, new List<SelectListItem>
                   { new SelectListItem{Text="Male", Value="M"},
                     new SelectListItem{Text="Female", Value="F"}}, "Please select")
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>City: </td>
                <td>
                    @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.City)
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td></td>
                <td>@Html.ActionLink("Submit", "", null, new { @id = "submit" })</td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    }
    <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.3/jquery.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        $(function () {
            $("#submit").click(function () {
                document.forms[0].submit();
                return false;
            });
        });
    </script>
</body>
</html>
 
 
Screenshots
The Form
ASP.Net MVC: Pass (Send) DropDownList Selected Value to Controller using Html.ActionLink
 
Values captured in Controller when Form is submitted
ASP.Net MVC: Pass (Send) DropDownList Selected Value to Controller using Html.ActionLink
 
 
Downloads
Download Code