Question

I have the following code in my HomeController’s Index action, and the code below it in my layout. When I call up the Home/Index view, the UserName property isn’t set, but I know it is set in my controller, as I examine the value with a breakpoint.

Controller:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    ViewData.Add("UserName", User.Identity.Name);
    return View();
}

View:

@{ 
    if (User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
    {
    <text>Hello </text>
    @ViewBag.UserName <text> - </text>
    @Html.ActionLink("Sign Out", "LogOff", "Account", null, new { style = "font-weight: bold;" })
    }
}

EDIT: When I try the following view code, as suggested in answers below, I get a the compilation error: ‘System.Web.Mvc.HtmlHelper’ has no applicable method named ‘Display’ but appears to have an extension method by that name.

I wonder if this is not some side effect of my nested layouts? The layout for the view cited is _ThreeColumn, and the layout for the latter is _Layout, set as default in _ViewStart.

Answer 1

First off, you should consistantly use viewbag or viewdata in both your controller and view, as it makes your code easier to understand.

public ActionResult Index()
{
    ViewBag.Username = User.Identity.Name;
    return View();
}

The real problem lies with @Html.Display you dont need the @ symbol again. It should be as follows:

@ViewBag.UserName <text> - </text>