Challenges with selecting values in ListBoxFor

Here’s an example illustrating the strongly typed version:

Model:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public int[] SelectedItemIds { get; set; }
    public MultiSelectList Items { get; set; }
}

Controller:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        // Preselect items with id 1 and 3
        var selectedItemIds = new[] { 1, 3 };

        var model = new MyViewModel
        {
            Items = new MultiSelectList(
                new[] 
                {
                    // TODO: Fetch from your repository
                    new { Id = 1, Name = "item 1" },
                    new { Id = 2, Name = "item 2" },
                    new { Id = 3, Name = "item 3" },
                }, 
                "Id", 
                "Name", 
                selectedItemIds
            )
        };

        return View(model);
    }
}

View:

<%: Html.ListBoxFor(x => x.SelectedItemIds, Model.Items) %>