I’m new to .Net 8 and I’ve build a form using MVC, EF and X.PagedList. My form has a multi-select drop-down list. I’m able to save the form to database. The Multi-select drop-down list is saved to database like this [“abc”, “xyz”].

Here is my Model:

public partial class Bat
{
    [Key]
    [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    
    public string? FirstName { get; set; }
    public string? LastName { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<string>? MyMultiSelectList { get; set; } = null!; 
}

But when I go to view Index page, I get error at IQueryable line below –

ArgumentException: Expression of type ‘System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable1[System.String]' cannot be used for parameter of type 'System.Collections.Generic.IList1[System.String]’ of method ‘System.Collections.Generic.IList1[System.String] PopulateList[String](System.Collections.Generic.IList1[System.String], System.Collections.Generic.IList`1[System.String])’ (Parameter ‘arg0’).

Here is my code of Index method

public IActionResult Index(int? page)
{
    IQueryable<Bat> Bats = _context.Bats.AsQueryable();

    int pageSize = 10;
    int pageNumber = (page ?? 1);
    return View(Bats.ToPagedList(pageNumber, pageSize));
}

Here is the code of my Index page

@using X.PagedList
@using X.PagedList.Mvc.Core
@model X.PagedList.IPagedList<QII.Models.Initiative>

<table class="table">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>
                @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.FirstName)
            </th>
            <th>
                @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.LastName)
            </th>
            <th>
                @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.MyMultiSelectList)
            </th>
            <th></th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    @foreach (var item in Model) {
        <tr>
            <td>
                @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.FirstName)
            </td>
            <td>
                @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.LastName)
            </td>
            <td>
                @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.MyMultiSelectList)
            </td>
            <td>
                <a asp-action="Edit" asp-route-id="@item.Id">Edit</a> |
                <a asp-action="Details" asp-route-id="@item.Id">Details</a> |
                <a asp-action="Delete" asp-route-id="@item.Id">Delete</a>
            </td>
        </tr>
    }
    </tbody>
</table>

Can someone tell me how to display this multi-select drop-down list as string like abc,xyz on my Index page and get rid of this error?