Question

As well as DisplayName eg.

[DisplayName("Address line 1 ")]
public string Address1{get; set;}

Html.LabelFor(model => model.Address1) 

I have a requirement to show tooltips eg.

[DisplayName("Address line 1 ")]
[ToolTip("The first line of your address as it appears on you bank statement")]
public string Address1{get; set;}

Html.LabelFor(model => model.Address1) 
Html.ToolTipFor(model => model.Address1) 

Can I extend the DisplayName DataAnnotation to do this? I can’t see how it can be done.

Thanks!

Answer 1

This is how I would do it. Time for some Champions League, I can clarify the code tomorrow if you want.

First a attribute:

public class TooltipAttribute : DescriptionAttribute
{
    public TooltipAttribute()
        : base("")
    {

    }

    public TooltipAttribute(string description)
        : base(description)
    {

    }
}

And then a html helper to allow us to write Html.TooltipFor():

public static class HtmlHelpers
{
    public static MvcHtmlString ToolTipFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression)
    {
        var exp = (MemberExpression)expression.Body;
        foreach (Attribute attribute in exp.Expression.Type.GetProperty(ex.Member.Name).GetCustomAttributes(false))
        {
            if (typeof(TooltipAttribute) == attribute.GetType())
            {
                return MvcHtmlString.Create(((TooltipAttribute)attribute).Description);
            }
        }
        return MvcHtmlString.Create("");
    }
}

Usage would then be this:

Your model:

public class User
{
    [Tooltip("This is the attribute for FirstName")]
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
}

And in your view:

<%= Html.ToolTipFor(x => x.FirstName) %>