Question

Question: How could I rewrite the anonymous type syntax in the ActionLink to be a little more standard OOP? I’m trying to understand what is happening.

What I think it means is: Creating an object with a single property id, which is an int, equal to that of the DinnerID in item, which is a Dinner.

 <% foreach (var item in Model) { %>

        <tr>
            <td>
                <%: Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new { id=item.DinnerID }) %> |
                <%: Html.ActionLink("Details", "Details", new { id=item.DinnerID })%> |
                <%: Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new { id=item.DinnerID })%>
            </td>
            <td>
                <%: item.DinnerID %>
            </td>
            <td>
                <%: item.Title %>
            </td>

I think I get Anonymous types: Wrote what I think is happening under the hood.

class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Anonymous types provide a convenient way to encapsulate a set of read-only properties
            // into a single object without having to first explicitly define a type
            var person = new { Name = "Terry", Age = 21 };
            Console.WriteLine("name is " + person.Name);
            Console.WriteLine("age is " + person.Age.ToString());

            Person1 person1 = new Person1("Bill",55);
            Console.WriteLine("name is " + person1.Name);
            Console.WriteLine("age is " + person1.Age.ToString());

            //person1.Name = "test"; // this wont compile as the setter is inaccessible
        }
    }

    class Person1
    {
        public string Name { get; private set; }
        public int Age { get; private set; }

        public Person1(string name, int age)
        {
            Name = name;
            Age = age;
        }
    }

Many thanks.

Answer 1

That’s pretty much what it’s doing except that the properties of anonymous types have public setters, and the anonymous types have parameterless constructors.

So a more accurate equivalent would be:

class Person1 
{ 
    public string Name { get; set; } 
    public int Age { get; set; } 
}

Person1 person1 = new Person1 { Name = "Bill", Age = 55 };