Question

I have a @model MyModel on a razor view. I know if I have a FirstName string defined in MyModel with a

[Display(Name = "First Name:")]

property, that I can use

@Html.LabelFor(m => m.FirstName, new { @class = "mylabelstyle", title = "Enter first name." })

I am using radio button lists with code such as the following:

[Required(ErrorMessage = "Please tell us how you heard of us.")]
        [Display(Name = "How did you hear about us?")]
        public ReferralList Referral { get; set; }
        public enum ReferralList
        {
            Referral_Google,
            Referral_OtherSearch,
            Referral_Website,
            Referral_Friend,
            Referral_Television,
            Referral_Radio,
            Referral_Other
        }
        public class ReferralDictionary
        {
            public static readonly Dictionary<ReferralList, string> referralDictionary = new Dictionary<ReferralList, string>
            {
                { ReferralList.Referral_Google, "Google" },
                { ReferralList.Referral_OtherSearch, "Bing / Yahoo / AOL" },
                { ReferralList.Referral_Website, "Website1.com / Website2.com" },
                { ReferralList.Referral_Friend, "Friend / Relative / Co-worker" },
                { ReferralList.Referral_Television, "Television" },
                { ReferralList.Referral_Radio, "Radio" },
                { ReferralList.Referral_Other, "Other" },
            };
            static string ConvertReferral(ReferralList referrallist)
            {
                string name;
                return (referralDictionary.TryGetValue(referrallist, out name))
                    ? name : referrallist.ToString();
            }

            static void Main()
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_Google));
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_OtherSearch));
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_Website));
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_Friend));
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_Television));
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_Radio));
                Console.WriteLine(ConvertReferral(ReferralList.Referral_Other));
            }
        }

I do the above so that in a confirm page I can do something like:

<div class="display-label">
     Referred From:
</div>
<div class="display-field">
     @Html.Raw(MyNamespace.Models.MyModel.ReferralDictionary.referralDictionary[Model.Referral])
</div>

which outputs the selection (say, “Google”) for example.

The above code is working, so if I mistyped something that’s not my problem.

My problem is that in my razor view, I have am doing this:

<td class="radio_cell">
    @Html.LabelFor(m => m.Referral, new { @class = "mylabelstyle", title = "How did you learn about our services?." })
</td>
<td>
    <span class="radio_validation">@Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.Referral)</span>
    <div class="radio">
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_Google")
            Google
        </p>
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_OtherSearch")
            Bing / Yahoo / AOL
        </p>
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_Website")
            Website1.com / Website2.com
        </p>
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_Friend")
            Friend / Relative / Co-worker
        </p>
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_Television")
            Television
        </p>
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_Radio")
            Radio
        </p>
        <p>
            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Referral, "Referral_Other")
            Other
        </p>
    </div>
</td>

If you notice, I am putting, for example, “Google” as text in the model class, and writing out “Google” again in the view.

For one word this is not a big deal (nor for one radio button list). However, I am using a lot of radio button lists, and many of my choices are short sentences. So, keeping the view and the model class text in “synch” is starting to become a nightmare when I make changes.

I tried using the @Html.Raw to output the individual dictionary item with no success. So I am stuck.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

I think this can help: http://jonlanceley.blogspot.com/2011/06/mvc3-radiobuttonlist-helper.html