Question

In ASP.NET MVC3 razor, can’t we directly bind the dataset to the WebGrid as we do it ASP.NET. Do we always need to use the Model?Is it required to convert my DataTable to list first?

Answer 1

In ASP.NET MVC, data is passed from controller to view by using Models, here are few links to help you get started with webgrid.

Best Beginner guide to webgrid

MSDN Example

More Examples

This is considered best practice while using MVC, however you can still do and use webgrid without models,

Here is a small example from Mike’s site, where he doesn’t use model. But it is strongly advised to use model only !!!

@{
    Layout = "~/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
    var db = Database.Open("Books");
    var sql = "Select BookId, Title, ISBN, Description, FirstName, LastName, Category, DatePublished  " +  
               "From Books Inner Join Authors on Books.AuthorId = Authors.AuthorId " + 
               "Inner Join Categories on Books.CategoryId = Categories.CategoryId";
    var books = db.Query(sql);
    var columns = new []{"BookId", "Title", "ISBN", "Category"};
    var grid = new WebGrid(books, columnNames : columns);
}
<p>The time is @DateTime.Now </p>
<div id="grid">
    @grid.GetHtml()
</div>