display name for reference entity in mvc

Question

I have two entities which are generated from data first approach of entity framework in MVC5. Following are the Models

public partial class Cuisine
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public virtual ICollection<Dish> Dishes { get; set; }
}


public partial class Dish
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int CuisineId { get; set; }

    public virtual Cuisine Cuisine { get; set; }
}

When I display the Dishes it is showing as below

But I want the column names as Name and Cuisine Name instead of Name and Name. How to do that? I want to display as Name when showing Cuisine list and Cuisine Name when showing in Dish list.

Code for my cshtml

<table class="table">
<tr>
<th>
    @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Name)
</th>
<th>
    @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Cuisine.Name)
</th>
<th></th>
</tr>
@foreach (var item in Model) {
<tr>
<td>
    @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Name)
</td>
<td>
    @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Cuisine.Name)
</td>
<td>
    @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new { id=item.Id }) |
    @Html.ActionLink("Details", "Details", new { id=item.Id }) |
    @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new { id=item.Id })
</td>
</tr>
}
</table>

Use a view model containing only the 2 properties you want and add a [Display(Name = "Cuisine Name")] attribute — user3559349
– user3559349, Commented Feb 12, 2016 at 8:52
Just to be clear on my question, if I refer Cusine name field in any other model, I need 'Cusine Name' as my label if it is in the views of 'Cusine' I need 'Name' as my label. Is there any way to do this without duplicating my validations by creating view model? — aditya
– aditya, Commented Feb 12, 2016 at 9:28

Mainul · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-12 09:26:14Z

4

You can use DataAnnotation for this

public partial class Cuisine
{
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Display(Name="Name of Cuisine")]
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public virtual ICollection<Dish> Dishes { get; set; }
}

EDIT:

You have used @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Cuisine.Name) to display the name of Cuisine. You can use LabelFor() instead of DisplayNameFor to display the name. Change the cshtml and use

@Html.LabelFor(model =>  model.Cuisine.Name, "Cuisine Name")

edited Feb 12, 2016 at 9:26

answered Feb 12, 2016 at 8:53

Mainul

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3 Comments

aditya Over a year ago

But in my Cuisine view, I want it as 'Name' only and in Dishes view I want it as 'Cuisine Name'. Adding data annotation changes name everywhere

aditya Over a year ago

Hey, thanks for the LabelFor attribute. but I am getting an error when I refer model.Cuisine as in above syntax. It shows that model.Cuisine is not present in the model. I am not getting any error in DisplayNameFor() attribute. It's confusing. Can you explain why this is happening?

user3559349 Over a year ago

Using LabelFor() is not appropriate - it create a <label> element which is an accessibility element associated with a form control and there are no form controls. It should be @Html.DisplayNameFor()

Marco · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-12 09:22:32Z

3

It would probably be a good idea to use a ViewModel, which aggregates just the properties you need for your view.

public class DishVm
{
        public int Id { get; set; }

        [Display(Name="Cuisine Name")]
        public string Name { get; set; }

        [Display(Name="Name")]
        public string DishName { get; set; }
}

I don't know how you are retrieving your data, but it would look similar to this:

IEnumerable<DishVm> vm = context.Dishes
                                .Include(c => c.Cuisines)
                                .OrderBy(n => n.Name)
                                .Select(x => new DisVm {
                                    Name = x.Cuisine.Name,
                                    DishName = x.Name
                                 });

return View(vm);

Your view would then have a new model type: @model IEnumerable<Yournamespace.Folder.DishVm>

edited Feb 12, 2016 at 9:22

answered Feb 12, 2016 at 8:51

Marco

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7 Comments

aditya Over a year ago

But this way I have to duplicate all of my validations. My other fields have several validations. Also, I have a doubt that we loose navigation properties if we create ViewModel(Correct me if I am wrong). Is there any approach other than using ViewModel?

user3559349 Over a year ago

@aditya, Your not duplicating any validations. A [Display] attribute is a view specific attribute and should not be in a data model. Using a view model is the correct approach

aditya Over a year ago

So, If I have 10 other fields and each has some validation like email validation, some regular expression validation in my Model(Dish), should I write all those validations in my view model also? If yes, I am duplicating the work right?

user3559349 Over a year ago

@aditya, Your view is just display 2 properties. And your not editing anything so no validation attributes would be applied to the view model.

aditya Over a year ago

@stephen Muecke This helps for one scenario. But my worry is I have other views which have the same problem and I have to show 9 columns each using some validation. This is where my worry goes. If I create a view model for every view like this, I may end up creating validations for every view model.

|

Morten_564834 · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-18 15:15:52Z

0

On top of your virtual property, decorate it with a [Display(Name="Cuisine"]

Then in your view -> header, drop the .Name in the end. So it says: @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Cuisine)

It's that simple :)

answered Sep 18, 2017 at 15:15

Morten_564834

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