Render StringBuilder HTML in MVC 3 View

Question

In my view I am looping through my model and building html to display on the page. I am building this html with stringbuilder and if/else conditions.

I have tried to render this string as html but I keep getting stuck.

This is the code:

@model UserManager.Models.vw_UserManager_Model 
<div id="success-message">
    <fieldset>
        <legend><b>@ViewData["Action"]</b> </legend>
        <!-- User created -->
        <div id="content">

            @Html.Raw("some test string");

            @{
                System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
                int i = 0;
                sb.Append("<ul>");
                foreach (var item in Model)
                {
                    string s = item.ToString();
                    if (s == "," && i != 1)
                    {
                        // When it finds first delimiter, start building the string
                        i = 1;
                        sb.Append("<li>");
                    }

                    else if (s == "," && i == 1)
                    {
                        // When it finds first delimiter, start building the string
                        sb.Append(" : ");
                    }

                    else if (i == 1 && s != "/")
                    {
                        // Contine building the string
                        sb.Append(s);
                    }

                    else if (s == "/")
                    {
                        // End current list item and set i to 0. This will start the next li sequence
                        sb.Append("</li>");
                        i = 0;
                    }

                    else
                    {
                        // Do nothing in the loop   
                    }
                }
                sb.Append("</ul>");
                var str = MvcHtmlString.Create(sb.ToString());

            }

        </div>
    </fieldset>
</div>

Contents of SB

{<ul><li>firstname : sdlmsdm</li><li>lastname : smsd</li><li>salutation : Mr</li><li>password : ksklsd</li><li>email : [email protected]</li><li>userName : sdkmsdmke</li><li>MaxConcurrentUsers : 0</li><li>group_name : [PIAS] UK LTD</li><li>module_name : Connect:Top 1000 Advertisers</li><li>isactive : True</li><li>IsApproved : False</li><li>alf : True</li><li>brad : False</li><li>selected_moduleAlf : Connect:Top 1000 Advertisers : System.String : selected_moduleBrad : false : </ul>}

I can't see anything of the HTML once this code is finished debugging. Does anyone have the answer?

@slacker str isn't empty because on the breakpoint I have a body of HTML which I built with my loop. — nick gowdy
– nick gowdy, Commented Apr 9, 2013 at 9:38

von v. · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-09 09:37:00Z

7

It's because you are not writing it. You need to do @Html.Raw(str):

sb.Append("</ul>");
var str = new HtmlString(sb.ToString());

@Html.Raw(str)

answered Apr 9, 2013 at 9:37

von v.

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7 Comments

nick gowdy Over a year ago

It didn't work. I don't understand why my html isn't rendering. I will edit my post with the new code.

von v. Over a year ago

Are you sure you have a good value in your Model. Looking at your code I think you can have this as an example a,b,c,d, right? Why don't you return an "expected valid string" from your controller so you can check that the "view code" is working.

nick gowdy Over a year ago

I think the values in the stringbuilder are not valid. I hardcoded a string and that works fine. I will check that again.

nick gowdy Over a year ago

I ended up using a string variable instead of a stringbuilder obj and I made sure I closed all my li's and the ul and it has worked. Plus I used @Html.Raw(). Thanks for your help.

von v. Over a year ago

Glad it worked. But honestly though, you should NOT have any logic on your views. You should either build the string in your controller or best is have an htmlhelper extension and build your string with it.

|

Sylvia · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-09 09:44:00Z

1

Change your HtmlString to an MvcHtmlString.Create("string") and then just display the created variable.

<div id="content">
    @{
        System.Text.StringBuilder sb = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
        sb.Append("<ul>");
        sb.Append("<li>asdfd</li>");  
        sb.Append("</ul>");
        var str = MvcHtmlString.Create(sb.ToString());

    }

    @str
</div>

answered Apr 9, 2013 at 9:44

Sylvia

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1 Comment

von v. Over a year ago

There's no need to use MvcHtmlString. You can output properly formatted html to a view using Html.Raw.

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