Question

I’m using asp.net mvc4, simplemembership and EF.

actually i have this code to search a user in my db.

HomeController :

        private UsersContext db = new UsersContext();

        public ActionResult Index(string searchUser)
        {
            var user = from m in db.UserProfiles
                       select m;

            if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(searchUser))
            {
                user = user.Where(s => s.UserName.Contains(searchUser));
            }

            return View(user);
        }

Index view :

 <div id="searchUser">
            @using (Html.BeginForm("Index", "Home", FormMethod.Get))
            {   
                <p>
                    @Html.TextBox("searchUser")
                    <input type="submit" value="Chercher" />
                </p>     
            }
  </div>
             /********** PART 1 ***********/
        @{
            var db = new UsersContext();
            var list = db.UserProfiles.ToList();

            foreach (var item in list)
            {
                <table>
                    <tr>
                        <td>
                            @Html.DisplayFor(m => item.UserName)
                        </td>
                    </tr>
                </table>

            }
        }

The part 1 here is obsolete. Instead of it, I would like to return the name of the user that I search for if he exist, otherwise I want to show a message to say he does not exist.

Actually, my request seem to work, but it returns nothing in the view, Is someone has an idea how can I solve this?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Try something like this,

on your controller, you always should return the same type for your view.

private UsersContext db = new UsersContext();

public ActionResult Index(string searchUser = "")
{
    IEnumerable<User> result;

    if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(searchUser))
    {
        var userFound = (from m in db.UserProfiles
                   where m.UserName.Constains(searchUser)
                   select m).FirstOrDefault(); // to take the first user you have found, but it is still an List.

            result = new List<User>() { userFound };
    }
    else 
    {
        result = (from m in db.UserProfiles
                 select m).ToList();
    }

    return View(result); // return the type for your view
}

And type your view with the same type on the Action and read it to display a table…

// type your view with IEnumerable<User>
@model IEnumerable<User>

<div id="searchUserForm">
    @using (Html.BeginForm("Index", "Home", FormMethod.Get))
    {   
    <p>
        @Html.TextBox("searchUser")
        <input type="submit" value="Chercher" />
    </p>     
    }
</div>

@if (Model.Any()) // Model is an IEnumerable<User>
{
    <table>
        <tr>
            <th>UserName</th>
        </tr>   
    foreach (var item in Model)
    {
        <tr>
            <td>
                @Html.DisplayFor(m => item.UserName)
            </td>
        </tr>
    }
    </table>
}
else 
{
    <p> No users to display.</p>
}