Asp.Net MVC EditorFor Array with template

Question

I have a model of ClassA that has a property that is an array of ClassB.

public class ClassA
{
    public string ClassAProperty1 { get; set; }
    public string ClassAProperty2 { get; set; }
    public ClassB[] MySubCollection { get; set; }
}

public class ClassB
{
    public string Prop1 { get; set; }
    public string Prop2 { get; set; }
}

I'd like to edit my instances of ClassB in a table. I've created an EditorTemplate for ClassB that creates a table row.

    @model ClassB
    <tr>
        <td>@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Prop1)</td>
        <td>@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Prop2)</td>
    </tr>

This works great on the edit view for ClassA since MVC does all the field indexing magic itself:

@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.ClassAProperty1)
@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.ClassAProperty2)

<table>
    <tr>
        <th>Col</th>
        <th>Col</th>
    </tr>
    @Html.EditorFor(m => m.MySubCollection)
</table>

However, I'd actually like to create an editor template for the array that includes the table tag like this:

@model ClassB[]
<table>
    <tr>
        <th>Col</th>
        <th>Col</th>
    </tr>
   @foreach(var item in Model)
   {
       @Html.EditorFor(m => item)
   }
</table>

So I can simply do:

@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.ClassAProperty1)
@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.ClassAProperty2)
@Html.EditorFor(m => m.MySubCollection)

However, the field indexing is not applied with this approach. Is there a way I can accomplish this without having to build the textbox names myself? Being a template, I don't know the property name at the time of use.

Jason Butera · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-02 16:05:53Z

8

I figured it out. Razor is pretty smart. Using a for loop instead of a foreach solves it:

@for (var i = 0; i < Model.Length; i++)
{
    @Html.EditorFor(c => Model[i])
}

answered Jun 2, 2016 at 16:05

Jason Butera

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4 Comments

user3559349 Over a year ago

While this works for you, your negating one of the main benefits of using an EditorTemplate which is to be able to use @Html.EditorFor(m =>m.SomeProperty) where SomeProperty can be either a single instance of a model of a collection of models.

Jason Butera Over a year ago

My template for an array of ClassB has the for loop. My view for ClassA does use @Html.EditorFor (m => m.MySubCollection).

user3559349 Over a year ago

Your not understanding my comment. One of the benefits of using an EditorTemplate is that you can pass it a single instance of ClassB or a collection of ClassB. You use means that you can no longer use EditorFor (m => m.MySubCollection) if MySubCollection is typeof ClassB - it now only works if MySubCollection is typeof IEnumerable<ClassB>

Jason Butera Over a year ago

I see what you're saying, but there's really no point of an EditorTemplate building a table row if you have to always build the surrounding table and thead tags around it every time you want to use it. In this case, I guess I could improve it by abandonding the inner EditorFor and make my ClassB template something that could live outside of a table. Thus, only my ClassB[] uses a table with rows built in the loop. I'm sorry, but I can't see a practical case for using a single template for both a single instance and collection. You need to somehow control UI flow for collections.

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