How to format string property in MVC model class to be used in DisplayFor

Question

Okay, I have been looking for a resolution for this simple task all day.

I have an mvc model class which has a BIC property and a NationalNumber property. Bother are string values. I want to use a DisplayFor helper to render the property on the view BUT, with a formatting applied.

for completeness: the formatting for the NationalNumber is '00.00.00-000.00' , the formatting for BIC is AAAA BB CC

I tried annotating my properties with a DisplayFormat Attribute, but that only seems to work with DateTimes, numeric values, etc,..

[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:##.##.##-###.##}")]

Then I looked at creating a custom DisplayFormat attribute, but that also works with patterns that apply to DateTimes, numeric values, etc.. You still need to suppy a DataFormatString value in the constructor of your custom attribute. But the filter does not seem to work with strings!

For the moment I ended up doing the markup clientSide(with a mask plugin) but that's not really what I want!

To summarize: I want to use @Html.DisplayFor(x=>x.BicNumber) and have it rendered with a custom formatting, preferrably annotaded on my viewmodel, with BicNumber being a string.

Thanks in advance

possible duplicate of Why is DisplayFormat DataFormatString not working? — MethodMan
– MethodMan, Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 16:25
have you checked the MSDN documentation on this as well ? msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/… — MethodMan
– MethodMan, Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 16:27
Have you tried creating a property in your model to return those fields in their proper formats? — CM Kanode
– CM Kanode, Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 16:28
@DJKRAZE It is not a duplicate. DisplayFormat never worked for strings in the first place. — GSerg
– GSerg, Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 16:29
it's marked as possible duplicate not explicit duplicate.. also I am not sure why the op can't use string.format function along with string.Format("{0:##.##.##-###.##}", what ever value needs to be formatted) — MethodMan
– MethodMan, Commented Oct 7, 2014 at 16:32

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:20:28Z

2

If your NationalNumber and BIC were separate data types, you could create display templates, store them under ~/Views/Shared/DisplayTemplates/NationalNumber.cshtml and ~/Views/Shared/DisplayTemplates/BIC.cshtml, and it would then automatically work as you want.

If you want to keep these properties as strings, the automatic approach won't work for you because a display template created for string.cshtml would affect all strings in the project.

So create a display template named ~/Views/Shared/DisplayTemplates/NationalNumber.cshtml, where you would manually output parts of the number:

@model string
@String.Format("{0}.{1}.{2}-{3}.{4}", Model.Substring(0, 2), Model.Substring(2, 2), Model.Substring(4, 2), Model.Substring(6, 3), Model.Substring(9, 2))

(note the capitalized String, it is important) and specify it explicitly:

@Html.DisplayFor(x=>x.NationalNumber, "NationalNumber")

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:20

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answered Oct 7, 2014 at 16:36

GSerg

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2 Comments

Luizgrs Over a year ago

I would add the the only option available in Format Strings for String data type is the alignment, that's why DataFormatString does not work msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/txafckwd(v=vs.110).aspx

stvn Over a year ago

This is actually a good approach I never thought about but I would like to abstract this logic in our custom framework so that we can re-use the formatting across all of our projects. With your approach we would have to pack this into a nuget or something to get this to work in every project. I was thinking more like a Formatter attribute for my model.

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