returning and using multiple models in MVC

Question

I've been able to successfully return a model to a view and display the results in a strongly-typed fashion.

I have never seen an example where multiple models get returned. How do I go about that?

I suppose the controller would have something like this:

return View(lemondb.Messages.Where(p => p.user == tmp_username).ToList(), lemondb.Lemons.Where(p => p.acidity >= 2).ToList());

Does MVC let you return multiple models like that?

And then in the view I have this line at the top of the file:

@model IEnumerable<ElkDogTrader.Models.Message>

And I frequently make calls to "model" in the view.

@foreach (var item in Model)

If there were 2 models, how would I refer to them separately?

Is this possible with multiple models, or is this why people use ViewBag and ViewData?

Matt · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-01 18:52:13Z

19

You can create a custom model representing the data needed for your view.

public class UserView
{
    public User User{get;set;}
    public List<Messages> Messages{get;set;}
}

And then,

return View(new UserView(){ User = user, Messages = message});

In the view:

Model.User;
Model.Messages;

The ViewBag is useful because it is dynamically typed, so you can reference members in it directly without casting. You do, however, then lose static type checking at compile time.

ViewData can be useful if you have a one-off on your view data types and know the type and will be doing a cast in the view anyway. Some people like to keep the actual typed view pure in a sense that it represents the primary model only, others like to take advantage of the type checking at compile time and therefore make custom models needed for the view.

edited Jun 1, 2011 at 18:52

answered Jun 1, 2011 at 18:46

Matt

41.9k30 gold badges112 silver badges149 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

jim tollan Over a year ago

i'd definitely endorse the custom viewmodel approach. don't struggle with the limitations of a single strongly typed model in the view, it just doesn't work... (well actually, it's fine for simple situations but lacking in more complex scenarios). i would also advocate really spending time to finely tune the requirements of your viewmodel as you'll find it can grow a life of its own unless you target it at the task at hand. Don't try to create yet another generic viewmodel, there's no shame in having a viewmodel per base model, one for edit and another for create functionality

micahhoover Over a year ago

In my case I want an index page that shows a "snapshot" of all the interesting stuff -basically the juiciest fields from all models. I guess it wouldn't grow because it would already be huge. If it had all my tables/models in it, would it be too generic? Or did you just mean generic in the sense of insert/update/delete/etc?

Sheikh Ali · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-30 10:56:17Z

1

I believe ViewModel should be the way to go. Within the customary ViewModel, you can reference other models or define all the related domain models in the viewModel itself.

answered Dec 30, 2013 at 10:56

Sheikh Ali

112 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

returning and using multiple models in MVC

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related