Simple multi select dropdown example using jQuery in asp.net

In this article, I will show you how to implement multiselect dropdown in asp.net c#. For this, I used chosen jQuery plugin. It will work on the jQuery framework, both jQuery is registered in the page by cdn.

Otherwise, install chosen jQuery in the project by running the following command in the nuget package manager console and add reference in the view. 

PM> Install-Package chosen

Here I am using Northwind database. You can download it from following link.

Download Northwind Database

Open Microsoft SQLmanagement studio and right click on the database and attach it.

Step 1: Create an asp.net mvc application and create an ado.net entity data model using table Employee in the model folder and generate entity for that.

Step 2: Right click on the "Controllers" folder and add "Home" controller. Copy and paste the following code.

  public ActionResult Index()
        {
            models db = new models();
            List<SelectListItem> listSelectListItems = new List<SelectListItem>();

            foreach (Employee emp in db.Employees)
            {
                SelectListItem selectList = new SelectListItem()
                {
                    Text = emp.FirstName,
                    Value =emp.EmployeeID.ToString()
                };
               listSelectListItems.Add(selectList);
            }
 
            ViewBag.Employees = new SelectList(listSelectListItems,"Value", "Text");
            return View();
        }

Step 3: Right click on the HomeControllers and create an index view. Copy and paste the following code.

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Multi-select";    
}
 
<link href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-BVYiiSIFeK1dGmJRAkycuHAHRg32OmUcww7on3RYdg4Va+PmSTsz/K68vbdEjh4u" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/chosen/1.6.2/chosen.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js"></script>
<script src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.7/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-Tc5IQib027qvyjSMfHjOMaLkfuWVxZxUPnCJA7l2mCWNIpG9mGCD8wGNIcPD7Txa" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/chosen/1.6.2/chosen.jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="container">
  
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-6">
            <h3 class="text-center">Multi-select</h3>
        </div>
    </div>

      <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-6">
            @Html.ListBox("lstChosenEmployee", ViewBag.Employees as SelectList, new { style = "width:100%" })
        </div>
    </div> 
</div>
 
<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function () {
        $("#lstChosenEmployee").chosen();
       });
</script>

jquery multiselect example: