Question

I have these view models.

public class MasterFrmVm
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public IList<FrmVm> FrmVms { get; set; }

    public MasterFrmVm()
    {
         RewardTierFrmVm = new List<RewardTierFrmVm>();
    }
}

public class FrmVm
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public IList<GroupedStoreVm> GroupedStoresVm { get; set; }

    public FrmVm()
    {
         GroupedStoresVm = new List<GroupedStoreVm>();
    }
 }

 public class GroupedStoreVm
 {
     public string CountryName { get; set; }
     public string CountryId { get; set; }
     public IList<StoreGroupingVm> StoreGroupingVms { get; set; }

     public GroupedStoreVm()
     {
          StoreGroupingVms = new List<StoreGroupingVm>();
     }
 }

 public class StoreGroupingVm
 {
      public string Name { get; set; }
      public Guid Id { get; set; }
      public IList<StoreVm> StoreVms { get; set; }
 }

 public class StoreVm
 {
      public Guid Id { get; set; }
      public string Name { get; set; }
 }


 @foreach (var f in Model.FrmVm )
 {
      @Html.Partial("GenerateTier", f)
 }


//GenerateTier
     @model FrmVm
     <ul class="storeTree">  
     @for (int i = 0; i < Model.GroupedStoresVm.Count; i++)
     {
                     <li>
                        <input type="checkbox" name="@Model.GroupedStoresVm[i]" value="@Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].CountryId" />@Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].CountryName
                        <ul>
                              @for (int x = 0; x < Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms.Count; x++)
                            {
                                <li>
                                   @Html.CheckBox(Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms[x].Name , false, new { value = Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms[x].Id }) @Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms[x].Name                                
                                    <ul>
                                       @for (int z = 0; z < @Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms[x].StoreVms.Count; z++)
                                       {
                                           <li>@Html.CheckBox(Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms[x].StoreVms[z].Name, false)@Model.GroupedStoresVm[i].StoreGroupingVms[x].StoreVms[z].Name  </li>
                                       }
                                    </ul>
                                 </li>                                      
                            }                    
                        </ul>                 
                     </li>        
                }
                </ul>

I am basically making a checkbox tree (then using a jquery plugin I make it look like a tree). However I am not sure how to make the checkboxes so they bind. Normally I would use strongly typed html helper but I just don’t know how it would look as it wants a bool value.

So I tried both the non strongly typed helper and just html but I can’t figure out how to make it so when I have my controller it binds.

public ActionResult (FrmVm vm)
{
}

I am using jquery and serializing it and sending it via Ajax.

Edit

I also forgot to mention the FrmVm is another view Model as it too can also be many.

@foreach (var f in Model.FrmVm)
{
     @Html.Partial("GenerateTier", f)
}

what then has the code I showed above. Now added to my code.

Edit 2

Here is what I see in firebug

FrmVm%5Bd06a6c21-1796-4fb5-9af5-cbf973c6c820%5D.a=a
&FrmVm%5Bd06a6c21-1796-4fb5-9af5-cbf973c6c820%5D.a=false

&FrmVm%5Bd06a6c21-1796-4fb5-9af5-cbf973c6c820%5D.3=70563225-2718-40ec-8a71-a01500a66183
&FrmVm%5Bd06a6c21-1796-4fb5-9af5-cbf973c6c820%5D.3=false

&FrmVm%5Bd06a6c21-1796-4fb5-9af5-cbf973c6c820%5D.1=dbd43e7e-86e4-4fa1-9e48-a01a00db151c
&FrmVm%5Bd06a6c21-1796-4fb5-9af5-cbf973c6c820%5D.1=false

The structure would be (they would be checkboxes of course)

-a
  - 3
     -1

not sure why it says they are all false as I checked them all.

Answer 1

When your viewmodel has a property defined as a bool then the helper @Html.EditorFor(model => model.boolProperty) will automatically produce a checkbox.

In response to your comment, perhaps something like this?

public class myViewModel
{
 List<boolNames> firstList { get; set; }
 List<boolNames> anotherList { get; set; }
}

public class boolNames
{
 public string Name { get; set; }
 public int GUID { get; set; }
 public bool checkBox { get; set; }
}

view

@for(int i = 0 ; i < Model.firstList.Count ; i++ )
{
 <div id="@(Model.firstList[i].GUID)">
 <span>@Model.firstList[i].Name</span>
 <span>@Html.EditorFor(model => model.firstList[i].checkBox)</span>
 </div>
}