Question

i would like to change the way LabelFor render. Can i do that with a DisplayTemplate?

LabelFor generate a label tag and i would like to add a “:” at the end of the label.

thank you!

alex

Answer 1

Here is an HTML Helper that will do that:

public static class LabelExtensions {
    [SuppressMessage("Microsoft.Design", "CA1006:DoNotNestGenericTypesInMemberSignatures", Justification = "This is an appropriate nesting of generic types")]
    public static MvcHtmlString SmartLabelFor<TModel, TValue>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, Expression<Func<TModel, TValue>> expression) {
        return LabelHelper(html,
                           ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, html.ViewData),
                           ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression));
    }

    internal static MvcHtmlString LabelHelper(HtmlHelper html, ModelMetadata metadata, string htmlFieldName) {
        string labelText = metadata.DisplayName ?? metadata.PropertyName ?? htmlFieldName.Split('.').Last();
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(labelText)) {
            return MvcHtmlString.Empty;
        }

        // uncomment if want * for required field
        //if (metadata.IsRequired) labelText = labelText + " *";
        labelText = labelText + ":";

        TagBuilder tag = new TagBuilder("label");
        tag.Attributes.Add("for", html.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldId(htmlFieldName));
        tag.SetInnerText(labelText);
        return MvcHtmlString.Create(tag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
    }
}

To use it:

<%:Html.SmartLabelFor(m => m.FirstName)%>

It will render:

<label for="FirstName">First Name:</label>

Or if you uncomment the required field related *

<label for="FirstName">First Name *:</label>