I had a need to bind a select control to a set of json data delievered via a  $ ajax call…

 

C# method

 public List<SelectListItem> changeHistorySelect { get; private set; }

        [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Get)]

        public ActionResult GetChangeHistorySelect(Int64 Id)
        {
            var selectListGroup_Info = new SelectListGroup() { Name = "Info"};
            var selectListGroup_Allotments = new SelectListGroup() { Name = "Allotments" };
            var selectListGroup_Financial = new SelectListGroup() { Name = "Financial" };
            var selectListGroup_Daily_Status = new SelectListGroup() { Name = "Daily Status" };
            var selectListGroup_Enrollments = new SelectListGroup() { Name = "Enrollments" };

            #region  Misc Code...

            // Build list
            changeHistorySelect = new List<SelectListItem>
            {
              new  SelectListItem
              {
                  Value = "",
                  Text = "- Select -",
                  Selected = true
                 
              },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "student",
                    Text = "Student",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Info
                },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "altAddresses",
                    Text = "Alternate Addresses",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Info
                },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "enrollment",
                    Text = "Enrollment",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Info
                },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "enrollmentType",
                    Text = "Enrollment Type",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Info
                },


                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "allotteeInfo",
                    Text = "Allottee Information",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Allotments
                },

                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "earnings",
                    Text = "Earnings",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Financial
                },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "deductions",
                    Text = "Deductions",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Financial
                },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "reimbursements",
                    Text = "Reimbursements",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Financial
                },
                new SelectListItem
                {
                    Value = "accruals",
                    Text = "Accruals",
                    Group = selectListGroup_Financial
                },
              
            };

            // Now add enrollments to list

            var enrollments = new StudentChangeHistoryService().GetStudentEnrollment(Id);
            foreach (var er in enrollments)
            {
                if (er.sep_dt.ToString() == "1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM")
                {
                    changeHistorySelect.Add(new SelectListItem
                    {
                        Value = er.enr_dt != null ? er.enr_dt.Value.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") : String.Empty,
                        Text = "Current Enrollment: " + (er.enr_dt != null ? er.enr_dt.Value.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") : String.Empty) + " - Current",
                        Group = selectListGroup_Daily_Status
                    });
                }
                else
                {
                    changeHistorySelect.Add(new SelectListItem
                    {
                        Value = er.enr_dt != null ? er.enr_dt.Value.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") : String.Empty,
                        Text = String.Format("Prior Enrollment: {0} - {1} ", er.enr_dt != null ? er.enr_dt.Value.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy") : String.Empty,(er.sep_dt != null ? er.sep_dt.Value.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"): String.Empty)), 
                        Group = selectListGroup_Daily_Status
                    });
                }


            }

            var jsonResult = Json(changeHistorySelect);
            #endregion

            return Json(changeHistorySelect,JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
        }

Now I need to have the UI call and build selector in javascript


 function getChangeHistorySelect(studentId) {

            $.getJSON('@Url.Action("GetChangeHistorySelect")', { Id: studentId }).done(function (data) {

                console.log(data);
                var result = data;

                var changeHistorySelect = $('#changeHistorySelect');
                changeHistorySelect.empty();
                var groupName = '';
                var groupPreviousName = '';
                $.each(result,
                    function () {
                        // Need an outloop for the option group
                       // debugger;
                        if (this.Group != null) {
                            // Has the group already been added?
                            var group = this.Group;
                            if (groupName === '') {

                                groupName = group.Name;
                                groupPreviousName = groupName;
                                // First Add...
                                changeHistorySelect.append(
                                    $('<optgroup>',
                                        {
                                            label: groupName,
                                            id: groupName
                                        }));


                            } else {
                                groupName = group.Name;
                                // A group has already been added... does it match?
                                if (groupPreviousName === groupName) {
                                    // They Match skip (added select under this group
                                } else {
                                    // They don' match, add new optGroup and contiue on to add selects under it
                                    groupName = group.Name;
                                    groupPreviousName = groupName;

                                    changeHistorySelect.append(
                                        $('<optgroup>',
                                            {
                                                label: groupName,
                                                id: groupName.replace(/\s/g, "")
                                            }));
                                }
                            }
                            // Add Option Group
                            var custom = $('#' + groupName.replace(/\s/g, ""));
                            var option = $("<option></option>");
                            option.val(this.Value);
                            option.text(this.Text);
                            option.appendTo(custom);


                        } else {
                            changeHistorySelect.append(
                                                           $('<option>',
                                                               {
                                                                   value: this.Value
                                                               }).text(this.Text)
                                                       );
                        }

                    });

            });
        }


.