Question

I’m trying to use a model from a custom namespace in my .cshtml file. However, whenever I try to set the model, Razor throws a The type or namespace name could not be found error.

I’ve got a project setup that uses solution folders to help with organization as shown below:

Here’s what the code in the MyViewModel.cs file looks like:

namespace MyProject.ViewModels
{
    public class MyViewModel
    {
    }
}

Alright, so that is the basic layout. The problem is that when I try to use the MyViewModel object in my Razor view, Razor says that it can’t find the namespace. As shown here:

I believe I’m doing everything the way I should. It just seems like Razor is failing to look in the solution folders. How can I get the MyViewModel object to be recognized by Razor? Is there something I am missing?

Please note: I do realize that I could simply change my @using statement to reference the entire path. However, in my project I have many solution folders inside the ViewModels folder and I do not wish to go through and specify each one.

Update

I’ve accepted Darin’s answer because it successfully answers the question. I’ve also provided some more information below about my specific situation and why this question came up.

I looked into the issue a bit more and figured out what was going on. I normally use the SparkViewEngine which allows for referencing my view models like this: <viewdata model="ViewModels.MyViewModel"/> When Razor did not allow me to reference the view models in the same manner I thought there was something wrong with Razor.

Each ViewEngine creates temporary CS files which are used to help generate the view. The temporary files created by Spark use the “controllers” namespace. In this case Spark would have used the MyProject.Controllers namespace in it’s temporary CS file. This means that I can reference the ViewModels.MyViewModel object without specifying the full namespace because it is in the same namespace as the generated CS file.

The temporary files that are generated by Razor use the ASP namespace. This means that I cannot reference the ViewModels.MyViewModel object without specifying the full namespace because it is not in the same namespace as the generated CS file.

Answer 1

Add the namespace in which the your view model is declared to the top of your razor view using the @using directive:

@using MvcApplication1.ViewModels
@model MyViewModel

Also to avoid adding this in every single razor view you would like to use it, you could add it to the <namespaces> section of your ~/Views/web.config file (do not confuse with ~/web.config):

<system.web.webPages.razor>
    <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
    <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />

        <add namespace="MvcApplication1.ViewModels" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
</system.web.webPages.razor>

Also notice how I have specified the full namespace. In the screenshot you have shown you seem to only be using ViewModels.MyViewModel but are you sure that this is the correct namespace? Usually when you add a class file in Visual Studio it will use the application name + folder to prefix the namespace like MvcApplication1.ViewModels.