public class IdentityDbContext<TUser, TRole, TKey, TUserLogin, TUserRole, TUserClaim> :
DbContext where TUser : IdentityUser<TKey, TUserLogin, TUserRole, TUserClaim> 
where TRole : IdentityRole<TKey, TUserRole> 
where TUserLogin : IdentityUserLogin<TKey> 
where TUserRole : IdentityUserRole<TKey> 
where TUserClaim : IdentityUserClaim<TKey>

public class MyViewModel
{
    [Required]
    public string CategoryId { get; set; }

    public IEnumerable<Category> Categories { get; set; }
}

Controller:

public ActionResult Index()
{
   var model = new MyViewModel
   {
       Categories = GetCategories()
   }
   return View(model);
}

View:

@Html.DropDownListFor(
    x => x.CategoryId, 
    new SelectList(Model.Categories, "ID", "CategoryName"), 
    "-- Please select a category --"
)
@Html.ValidationMessageFor(x => x.CategoryId)

        const char RightToLeftEmbedding = (char)0x202B;
        const char PopDirectionalFormatting = (char)0x202C;
 
        static string FixWeakCharacters(string data)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(data)) return string.Empty;
            var weakCharacters = new[] { @"\", "/", "+", "-", "=", ";", "$" };
            foreach (var weakCharacter in weakCharacters)
            {
                data = data.Replace(weakCharacter, RightToLeftEmbedding + weakCharacter + PopDirectionalFormatting);
            }
            return data;
        }