Question

Say i have a List with items

-17″ Screen
– 100GB HD
-10788 Firewire
-Lock Cable
-Monitor
-Mouse
-Keyboard
– USB

I want to iterate a list for items starting from A to c, D to F and so on…

I want this to run for items starting from A to items starting C
   @foreach (var item in Model.Items.OrderBy(i => i.Title))
            {
// Code
}

I want this to run for items starting from D to items starting F
   @foreach (var item in Model.Items.OrderBy(i => i.Title))
         {
// Code
}

Any Help ?

Answer 1

I would start by defining a view model (as always):

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string LetterRange { get; set; }
    public string[] Titles { get; set; }
}

then a controller action that will convert fetch the model from somewhere and then map it to a view model.

Remark: in this example I will put the mapping code between the model and the view model inside the controller action but normally this should go into a separate mapping layer. For example if you use AutoMapper that could be a great place.

So:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    // The model could be of any form and come from anywhere but
    // the important thing is that at the end of the day you will have
    // a list of titles here
    var model = new[] 
    { 
        "17\" Screen", 
        "100GB HD", 
        "10788 Firewire", 
        "Lock Cable", 
        "Monitor",
        "Mouse", 
        "Keyboard",
        "USB" 
    };

    // Now let's map this domain model into a view model 
    // that will be adapted to the requirements of our view.
    // And the requirements of this view is to group the titles
    // in ranges of 3 letters of the alphabet
    var viewModel = Enumerable
        .Range(65, 26)
        .Select((letter, index) => new 
        { 
            Letter = ((char)letter).ToString(), 
            Index = index 
        })
        .GroupBy(g => g.Index / 3)
        .Select(g => g.Select(x => x.Letter).ToArray())
        .Select(range => new MyViewModel
        {
            LetterRange = string.Format("{0}-{1}", range.First(), range.Last()),
            Titles = model
                .Where(item => item.Length > 0 && range.Contains(item.Substring(0, 1)))
                .ToArray()
        })
        .ToArray();

    // Let's add those titles that weren't starting with an alphabet letter
    var other = new MyViewModel
    {
        LetterRange = "Other",
        Titles = model.Where(item => !viewModel.Any(x => x.Titles.Contains(item))).ToArray()
    };

    // and merge them into the final view model
    viewModel = new[] { other }.Concat(viewModel).ToArray();

    return View(viewModel);
}

and now all that’s left in the corresponding view is to display the titles according to the requirements:

@model MyViewModel[]

@foreach (var item in Model)
{
    <h2>@item.LetterRange</h2>
    foreach (var title in item.Titles)
    {
        <div>@title</div>
    }
}

and the result:

---

And after refactoring the mapping logic into a mapping layer here’s how the corresponding controller action might look like:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    // The model could be of any form and come from anywhere but
    // the important thing is that at the end of the day you will have
    // a list of titles here
    DomainModel[] items = ...

    // Now let's map this domain model into a view model 
    // that will be adapted to the requirements of our view.
    var viewModel = Mapper.Map<IEnumerable<DomainModel>, IEnumerable<MyViewModel>>(items);

    return View(viewModel);
}

Clean and dry.