Question

I have the following code:

        string init = "yes";
        string html = "";
        foreach (var item in v.Details) {
               if (item.Substring(0, 1) != " ")
               {
                   if (init != "yes")
                   {
                       html += "</ul>";

                   }
                   html += "<p>" + item + "</p><ul>";
               }
               else
               {
                   html += "<li>" + item.Substring(1) + "</li>";
               }
           }

The code is in my MVC controller and it creates a string called html. The thing is I don’t think it should be in the controller. I tried to put this into the view and ended up with a huge mess that doesn’t seem to work. Seems I am not very good at coding C within a razor view. I just saw a lot of syntax type errors and confusion between what’s C and what’s HTML.

Can anyone suggest how I could make this code work within a view. Here’s what I used to have:

        <ul>
        @foreach (var item in Model.Details)
        {
            <li>@item</li>
        } 
        </ul>

This worked but as you can see I now need more processing. Would it be better to take this out of the view and if so how could I do this. I’m really hoping for a view solution but I am confused about where the put the @’s and where to put the brackets.

Any experts at coding C inside or Razor out there?

Answer 1

The code is in my MVC controller and it creates a string called html.
The thing is I don’t think it should be in the controller

You are correct. It shouldn’t be in the view neither due to the absolute mess it would create. I think this code is better suited in a custom HTML helper:

public static class HtmlExtensions
{
    public static IHtmlString FormatDetails(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, IEnumerable<string> details)
    {
        var init = "yes";
        var html = new StringBuilder();
        foreach (var item in details)
        {
            if (item.Substring(0, 1) != " ")
            {
                if (init != "yes")
                {
                    html.Append("</ul>");
                }
                html.AppendFormat("<p>{0}</p><ul>", htmlHelper.Encode(item));
            }
            else
            {
                html.AppendFormat("<li>{0}</li>", htmlHelper.Encode(item.Substring(1)));
            }
        }
        return MvcHtmlString.Create(html.ToString());
    }
}

which you would invoke in your view:

@Html.FormatDetails(Model.Details)

Remark: there seems to be something wrong with the init variable. You are setting its value to yes initially but you never modify it later.