How to make @Html.DisplayFor() use ToString() on object?

Question

PurchaseOrderModel.cs

public class PurchaseOrderModel {
    public SupplierModel Supplier { get; set; }
}

SupplierModel.cs

public class SupplierModel {
    public string Code { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public override string ToString() {
        return $"{Name} ({Code})";
    }
}

PurchseOrdersReport.cshtml

@Html.DisplayFor(purchaseOrder => purchaseOrder.Supplier)

I would like that the Razor engine calls the ToString() method of Supplier. But it doesn't, I got the following HTML output instead:

<div class="display-label">Code</div>
<div class="display-field">USSCIESTMI</div>
<div class="display-label">Name</div>
<div class="display-field">MY SUPPLIER NAME</div>

DisplayNameFor() uses the name of the property or the value of the [Display(Name = "..")] if present. Why not just use @Model.Supplier.ToString()? — user3559349
– user3559349, Commented May 3, 2018 at 3:23
@Html.DisplayNameFor(purchaseOrder => purchaseOrder.Supplier) will generate HTML markup with type name of SupplierModel. If you want DisplayNameFor to display formatted string, create a display template instead. — Tetsuya Yamamoto
– Tetsuya Yamamoto, Commented May 3, 2018 at 3:31
And I assume you have a typo in your code, and you meant @Html.DisplayFor(), not @Html.DisplayNameFor() — user3559349
– user3559349, Commented May 3, 2018 at 3:45
@StephenMuecke indeed, I fixed the typo. And yes Model.Supplier.ToString() is what I use, I just wanted to be consistent with the rest of my stsatements, which all use Html.DisplayFor. Thanks for the answer — olivierr91
– olivierr91, Commented May 4, 2018 at 14:49

Ashokan Sivapragasam · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-03 06:07:28Z

0

I found another topic at Stack overflow that outlines the following solution. Please refer How to show the model's attribute dynamically in mvc?

There is a overload for @Html.DisplayFor(...) that takes two args.

@Html.DisplayFor(purchaseOrder => purchaseOrder.Supplier, Model.Supplier.ToString())

answered May 3, 2018 at 6:07

Ashokan Sivapragasam

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1 Comment

user3559349 Over a year ago

The 2nd parameter is the name of the DisplayTemplate - i.e. the name of a .cshtml file. This has nothing to do with OP's issue

Ian Durward · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-28 05:04:39Z

0

Try using

@(Model.PropertyType.ToString())

Or simply

@Model.PropertyType

instead of @Html.DisplayFor

answered May 28, 2018 at 5:04

Ian Durward

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