[c#] ASP.NET MVC DropDownListFor with model of type List<string>

I have a view with a model of type List<string> and I want to place a drop down list on the page that contains all strings from the list as items in the drop down. I am new to MVC, how would I accomplish this?

I tried this:

@model List<string>
@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x)

but that threw an error.

I realize this question was asked a long time ago, but I came here looking for answers and wasn't satisfied with anything I could find. I finally found the answer here:

https://www.tutorialsteacher.com/mvc/htmlhelper-dropdownlist-dropdownlistfor

To get the results from the form, use the FormCollection and then pull each individual value out by it's model name thus:

yourRecord.FieldName = Request.Form["FieldNameInModel"];

As far as I could tell it makes absolutely no difference what argument name you give to the FormCollection - use Request.Form["NameFromModel"] to retrieve it.

No, I did not dig down to see how th4e magic works under the covers. I just know it works...

I hope this helps somebody avoid the hours I spent trying different approaches before I got it working.

If you have a List of type string that you want in a drop down list I do the following:

EDIT: Clarified, making it a fuller example.

public class ShipDirectory
{
    public string ShipDirectoryName { get; set; }
    public List<string> ShipNames { get; set; }
}

ShipDirectory myShipDirectory = new ShipDirectory()
{
    ShipDirectoryName = "Incomming Vessels",
    ShipNames = new List<string>(){"A", "A B"},
}

myShipDirectory.ShipNames.Add("Aunt Bessy");

@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.ShipNames, new SelectList(Model.ShipNames), "Select a Ship...", new { @style = "width:500px" })

Which gives a drop down list like so:

<select id="ShipNames" name="ShipNames" style="width:500px">
    <option value="">Select a Ship...</option>
    <option>A</option>
    <option>A B</option>
    <option>Aunt Bessy</option>
</select>

To get the value on a controllers post; if you are using a model (e.g. MyViewModel) that has the List of strings as a property, because you have specified x => x.ShipNames you simply have the method signature as (because it will be serialised/deserialsed within the model):

public ActionResult MyActionName(MyViewModel model)

Access the ShipNames value like so: model.ShipNames

If you just want to access the drop down list on post then the signature becomes:

public ActionResult MyActionName(string ShipNames)

EDIT: In accordance with comments have clarified how to access the ShipNames property in the model collection parameter.