Output JavaScript from Razor

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC app. One of the views in my app has some JavaScript. I want to set the value of a JavaScript variable based on a value in the ViewBag. If the ViewBag value exists and is not null, I want to use it. Otherwise, I want to assign an empty string value to the JavaScript variable. Here's what I'm currently trying:

<script type='text/javascript'>
  function formatItem(item) {
    var itemName = @(ViewBag.ItemName ? ViewBag.ItemName : '');
    alert(itemName);
  }
</script>

This block throws an error that says:

Compiler Error Message: CS1011: Empty character literal

Is there a way to do what I'm trying to do? If so, how?

Thanks!

Tip: Don't forget that Razor will escape all strings. If you want to prevent that and you're 100% sure there's noting evil in that string you can use @Html.Raw() — dusky
– dusky, Commented Sep 30, 2014 at 15:14

Captain Kenpachi · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-30 14:30:12Z

3

You just need to use an empty string instead of a character literal (double quotes versus single quotes):

<script type='text/javascript'>
function formatItem(item) {
    var itemName = '@((!string.IsNullOrEmpty(ViewBag.ItemName)) ? ViewBag.ItemName : "")';
    alert(itemName);
}
</script>

Your only real problem was that you used '' instead of "". '' Means a character, "" means a string;

answered Sep 30, 2014 at 14:30

Captain Kenpachi

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Comments

Giannis Paraskevopoulos · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-30 15:06:13Z

3

You need double quotes and not single quotes.

var itemName = '@(String.IsNullOrEmpty(ViewBag.ItemName) ? ViewBag.ItemName : "")';

even better you might want to use the String object:

var itemName = '@(String.IsNullOrEmpty(ViewBag.ItemName) ? ViewBag.ItemName : String.Empty)';

edited Sep 30, 2014 at 15:06

answered Sep 30, 2014 at 14:26

Giannis Paraskevopoulos

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1 Comment

Dmitry Over a year ago

This is not JavaScript. ViewBag.ItemName is not boolean. He needs to use something like ?? or string.IsNullOrEmpty

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