String as a Model
I know you've already accepted an answer here - I'm adding this because there's a general gotcha associated with using a string model.
String as a model type in MVC is a nightmare, because if you do this in a controller:
string myStringModel = "Hello world";
return View("action", myStringModel);
It ends up choosing the wrong overload, and passing the myStringModel as a master name to the view engine.
In general it is easier simply to wrap it in a proper model type, as the accepted answer describes, but you can also simply force the compiler to choose the correct overload of View()
by casting the string to object
:
return View("action", (object)myStringModel);
The other issue you're having here of using TextBoxFor
having issues with an 'unnamed' model - well you shouldn't be surprised by that... The only reason to use TextBoxFor
is to ensure the fields are named correctly for binding when the underlying value is a property on a model type. In this case there is no name, because you're passing it as a top-level model type for a view - so you it could be argued that you shouldn't be using TextBoxFor()
in the first place.
There's a much cleaner way of passing a string as a model into your view. You just need to use named parameters when returning your view:
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Index()
{
string myStringModel = "I am passing this string as a model in the view";
return View(model:myStringModel);
}
Either wrap the string in a view model object:
Model:
public class HomeViewModel
{
public string CodeText { get; set; }
}
Controller:
private HomeViewModel _model;
public HomeController()
{
_model = new HomeViewModel { CodeText = "My Text" };
}
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View("Index", _model);
}
View:
@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.CodeText);
Or use EditorForModel
:
@Html.EditorForModel()