C# asp.net dynamically populate <select> list - asp.net

Question

.net 5.0
c#
Razor
I have been trying for a few days to dynamically populate a <select> list with 164 country names that sit in a DB column. I have worked through various sources online and 'nearly' have it working, but I'm stuck at the final hurdle.
The list populates one name at a time, overwriting the previous one each time. Only the final value from the DB column displays in the view.
HTML
<div class="form-group">
<label asp-for="Input.Country" class="font-heading" id="CountryHeading">#_loc[Model.CountryHeading]</label>
<div class="input-group">
<label asp-for="Input.Country" class="input-group-text" for="inputGroupCountrySelect">Country</label>
<select asp-for="Input.Country" class="form-control" asp-items="#Model.CountryList" id="inputGroupCountrySelect">
</select>
<br />
</div>
</div>
Controller
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> CountryList { get; set; }
public class InputModel
{
[ExStringLength(100, MinimumLength = 1)]
[DataType(DataType.Text)]
[Display(Name = "Country")]
public string Country { get; set; }
}
public async Task<IActionResult> OnGetAsync(string email)
{
List<string> countriesList = GetCountriesList.GetCountries();
Debug.WriteLine("************** countriesListReturned: " + countriesList.ToString());
for (int i = 0; i < 195; i++)
{
try
{
Debug.WriteLine("************** i Returned: " + i.ToString());
Debug.WriteLine("************** countriesList[i]: " + countriesList[i]);
CountryList = new SelectListItem[]
{
new SelectListItem(countriesList[i], countriesList[i])
};
}
catch
{
Debug.WriteLine("************** break");
break;
}
}
[normal other code to populate the view goes here]
return Page();
}
GetCountriesList.cs - to retrieve list from DB
Note: I'm planning to change the DB usage anyway because it takes 19 seconds to loop through the table and retrieve the values, which is way too long. But I still need to know why its not working.
using MyApp.Data;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.Linq;
namespace MyApp.Areas.FunctionalLogic
{
public class GetCountriesList
{
private static readonly ApplicationDbContext _context = new();
public static List<string> GetCountries()
{
_context.ChangeTracker.QueryTrackingBehavior = QueryTrackingBehavior.NoTracking;
var Countries = _context.Countries.FirstOrDefault();
//Debug.WriteLine("************** Countries: " + Countries);
List<string> countriesList = new();
if (Countries != null)
{
for (int i = 0; i < 195; i++)
{
countriesList = _context.Countries.Where(c => c.Country != null).Select(c => c.Country).ToList();
Debug.WriteLine("************** countriesList a: " + countriesList[i]);
Debug.WriteLine("************** countriesList b: " + countriesList);
Debug.WriteLine("************** countriesList c: " + i);
}
}
return countriesList;
}
}
}
Any ideas why I'm just getting the last DB value in my dropdown list?

Answer 1

just do this
public List<SelectListItem> GetCountries()
{
return _context.Countries.Select(i=> new SelectListItem{
Value=i.Id.ToString,
Text=i.Name
} ).ToList();
}
use it
CountryList=GetCountries();

Answer 2

The problem is:
CountryList = new SelectListItem[]
{
new SelectListItem(countriesList[i], countriesList[i])
};
Every time you create a new list of items with one element. You should add all items to one list instead. Something like that:
public async Task<IActionResult> OnGetAsync(string email)
{
List<string> countriesList = GetCountriesList.GetCountries();
Debug.WriteLine("************** countriesListReturned: " + countriesList.ToString());
CountryList = countriesList.Select(x => new SelectListItem(x, x));
[normal other code to populate the view goes here]
return Page();
}