Retrieving the selected value from a html.dropdownlist in a controller using MVC4
<pre><code> List&lt;mailinglists&gt; objmail = new List&lt;mailinglists&gt;();                                                     
 foreach (XmlElement e in mailTemplates)
 {
    objmail.Add(new MailingLists
    {
      Id = e.GetElementsByTagName("MAILING_ID")[0].InnerText,                                                                                                                                                                                                 
      Desc = e.GetElementsByTagName("MAILING_ID")[0].InnerText + " " + e.GetElementsByTagName("MAILING_NAME")[0].InnerText                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
    });
 }

  ViewData["data"] = new SelectList(objmail, "Id", "Desc", 1);

@Html.DropDownList("data", (SelectList)ViewData["data"])
</code></pre>

<p>In the Model:</p>

<pre><code>public class MailingLists
{
    public string Id { get; set; }
    public string Desc { get; set; }        
}
</code></pre>
