Q:

MVC 3 Controller Syntax Error In My Select List For Loop

Im having some trouble with my syntax creating a select list for days in a month inside of my controller. I got the Months and Years working but the for loop is causing me some trouble.
The errors visual studio is giving me is: "Invalid initializer member declarator" and "The name Days does not exist in the current context."
ViewModel
public class DateSearchViewModel
{
    public int SelectedMonth { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Months { get; set; }
    public int SelectedDay { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Days { get; set; }
    public int SelectedYear { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Years { get; set; }
}

Controller
    [ChildActionOnly]
    public ActionResult _Header()
    {
        var DateVM = new DateSearchViewModel
        {
            //Set selected value of month.
            SelectedMonth = 5,
            Months = new List<SelectListItem> 
            {
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Jan", Value = "1"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Feb", Value = "2"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Mar", Value = "3"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Apr", Value = "4"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "May", Value = "5"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Jun", Value = "6"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Jul", Value = "7"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Aug", Value = "8"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Sep", Value = "9"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Oct", Value = "10"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Nov", Value = "11"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "Dec", Value = "12"},
            },

            //Set selected value of Day.
            SelectedDay = 13,
            Days = new List<SelectListItem>
            {
                for (var i = 1; i <= 31; i++)
                {
                    Days.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = i.ToString(), Value = i.ToString()});
                }
            },

            //Set selected value of Year.
            SelectedYear = 2010,
            Years = new List<SelectListItem> 
            {
                new SelectListItem {Text = "2009", Value = "2009"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "2010", Value = "2010"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "2011", Value = "2011"},
                new SelectListItem {Text = "2012", Value = "2012"},
            }
        };

        return PartialView(DateVM);
    }

ViewModel: 
@Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedMonth, Model.Months) / @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedDay, Model.Days) / @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.SelectedYear, Model.Years)

A:

As the compiler is trying to tell you, you can't do that.
Initializers can only contain expressions.
Instead, you can use LINQ:
Days = Enumerable.Range(1, 31)
                 .Select(i => new SelectListItem { Text = i.ToString() }))

A:

You can't put a loop in an initializer:
Days = new List<SelectListItem>
{
    for (var i = 1; i <= 31; i++)
    {
        Days.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = i.ToString(), Value = i.ToString()});
    }
},

So instead just instantiate it and use the loop later:
var DateVM = new DateSearchViewModel 
{
    ...
    Days = new List<SelectListItem>(),
    ...
}

for (var i = 1; i <= 31; i++)
{
    DateVM.Days.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = i.ToString(), Value = i.ToString()});
}

