title: Date format in an Html.DropDownListFor
body: <p>New to MVC, bear with me.</p>
  
  <p>I'm trying to populate an <code>Html.DropDownListFor</code> control with a list of dates.  I need the text to be just <code>MM/DD/YYYY</code> and the data to be <code>DateTime</code>.  I can't figure out how to format the text to drop the date.  </p>
  
  <p>Here's the code from the view:</p>
  
  <pre><code>@Html.DropDownListFor(m =&gt; m.RunDate, Model.ReportRunDates, "--Select Report Date--", new { @class = "dropdown" })
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>From the viewModel:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[Display(Name = "Date")]
  public IEnumerable&lt;SelectListItem&gt; ReportRunDates { get; set; }
  
  [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:d}")]
  public string RunDate { get; set; }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>from the controller:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[HttpGet]
  public ActionResult StatusReport()
      {
          var vm = new ViewModels.ReportHistoryViewModel
          {
              ReportRunDates = GetReportRunDates(),
          };
          return View("StatusReportSearch", vm);
      }
  
  private SelectList GetReportRunDates()
  {
      var ReportRunDates = new List&lt;ReportHistory&gt;();
  
      ReportRunDates = RenewalUnderwritingLayer.GetReportRunDates();
  
      return new SelectList(ReportRunDates, "RunDate", "RunDate");
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Code from the model:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public class ReportHistory
  {
      [Key]
      public int Id { get; set; }
      [DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.Identity)]
      public Guid ReportHistoryGuid { get; set; }
      public DateTime ActivityDate { get; set; }
      public DateTime RunDate { get; set; }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Code that calls out to DAL:</p>
  
  <pre><code>    public static List&lt;ReportHistory&gt; GetReportRunDates()
      {
          using (var uow = new UnitOfWorkSQL())
          {
              return uow.Repository&lt;ReportHistory&gt;()
                  .Query()
                  .Get()
                  .Distinct()
                  .ToList();
          }
      }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've got the control displaying data, which felt like a huge win in and of itself, but I cannot figure out how to drop the timestamp in the text display of the drop down.  </p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance!</p>