Question

I have a view model

public class DeviceModelEntryViewModel
{
    public int ID { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [MaxLength(255)]
    public String Model { get; set; }

    [MaxLength(255)]
    public String Description { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "Manufacturer")]
    public int ManufacturerID { get; set; }

    public SelectList ManufacturerList { get; set; }
}

In the DeviceModelController my Create method goes something like this:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(DeviceModelEntryViewModel model)
{
    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        ...
        return RedirectToAction("Edit", new { id });  
    }

    return View(model);
}

The Create View is as follows:

@model ICMDB.ViewModels.DeviceModelEntryViewModel

@{ ViewBag.Title = "ICMD - Create Device Model"; }

<h2>Create Device Model</h2>

<div class="form-div">
    @using (Html.BeginForm()) {
        @Html.ValidationSummary(true)

        <fieldset>
            <div class="editor-label">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Model)
            </div>
            <div class="editor-field">
                @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Model)
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Model)
            </div>

            <div class="editor-label">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Description)
            </div>
            <div class="editor-field">
                @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Description)
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Description)
            </div>

            <div class="editor-label">
                @Html.LabelFor(model => model.ManufacturerID)
            </div>
            <div class="editor-field">
                @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.ManufacturerID, 
                                      Model.ManufacturerList, "--None--")
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ManufacturerID)
            </div>
        </fieldset>

        <input type="submit" value="Save" class="form-button"/>
    }

    @using (Html.BeginForm("Index", "DeviceModel"))
    { <input type="submit" value="Cancel" class="form-button"/> }       
</div>

For some reason, whenever this function (or the Edit function which has a similar declaration) is hit, model is null. I checked, and it doesn’t even hit the zero arg constructor for DeviceModelEntryViewModel. I have done this for all my other controllers with their appropriate view models and they all work fine. I can’t seem to see what the difference is with this one that stops it from working.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Try changing the name of your Model property to something like:

public String ModelName { get; set; }

Don’t forget to update your view as well. I believe that should get it working correctly as the word Model seems to act like a reserved word and confuses the model binder.

Edit: Here is a list of reserved words in Razor / MVC: Razor reseverd words