ASP.Net MVC Drop Down List -

i developing asp.net mvc 3 web application , believe method of returning list of items drop down list in view bit long winded. let me explain.

i have viewmodel contains equipment entity , selectlist display list of categories.

public class addequipmentviewmodel {     public equipment equipment { get; set; }     public selectlist categorylist { get; set; }  } 

in create method of equipment controller, return viewmodel view, see below:

//add new select list item named 'please select option' top of list         var categorylist = categoryservice.getallcategories();         var categoryselectlistitems = categorylist.select(c => new selectlistitem { value = c.categoryid.tostring(), text = c.categorytitle  }).tolist();         categoryselectlistitems.insert(0, new selectlistitem { text = "please select option", value = string.empty });  addequipmentviewmodel viewmodel = new addequipmentviewmodel         {             equipment = new equipment(),             categorylist = new selectlist(categoryselectlistitems.tolist(), "value", "text")         }; 

i know discard code before create instance of viewmodel , assign category list relevant viewmodel property so

categorylist = new selectlist(categoryservice.getallcategories(), "categoryid", "categorytitle") 

however, returns list of categories drop down list in view, whereas, add new selectlistitem, ie, "please select option".

i feel approach manually adding new selectlistitem selectlist bit cumbersome , appreciate if share better method?

thanks time.

<%= html.dropdownlist("name", new selectlist(...), "your combobox default message")%> 

hope helps