Question

This is what I’m trying to do, but it doesn’t work:

HardwareType hwt = new HardwareType { HType = "PC" };
IEnumerable<Hardware> Pcs = db.Hardware.Where(h => h.HardwareType.Contains(hwt));
ViewBag.Pcs = Pcs.ToString();

So how do I convert my IEnumerable to a string (or other primitive data type) so the compiler won’t give me an error when I try to use it in my Razor?

@foreach (var item in ViewBag.Pcs) {
     <li><a href="#" class="btn"><i class="icon-hdd"></i> @item.HType</a></li>
}

Hardware class:

public class Hardware
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public virtual ICollection<DeviceType> Type { get; set; }
        public string AssetTagId { get; set; }
        public virtual ICollection<Manufacturer> Manufacturer { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [StringLength(50)]
        public string ServiceTagId { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [StringLength(50)]
        public string SerialNumber { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [StringLength(75)]
        public string ProductNumber { get; set; }
       // [Required]
        [StringLength(20)]
        public string PurchaseDate { get; set; }
        [StringLength(20)]
        public string WarrantyExpiration { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [StringLength(20)]
        public string WarrantyType { get; set; }
        public virtual ICollection<Location> Location { get; set; }
        public virtual ICollection<HardwareType> HardwareType { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [StringLength(2000)]
        public string Notes { get; set; }
        public string POATag { get; set; }
    }

HardwareType class:

public class HardwareType
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        [Required]
        [StringLength(128)]
        public string HType { get; set; }
        public virtual ICollection<Hardware> Hardware { get; set; }
    }

Answer 1

It looks to me as if the problem is that you are converting it to a string, here:

ViewBag.Pcs = Pcs.ToString();

Why are you doing that? It looks like you want to iterate over the individual items within the sequence within your view. Either use:

ViewBag.Pcs = Pcs;

or

ViewBag.Pcs = Pcs.ToList();

if you want to force the query to be materialized.

EDIT: Looking at the error again, I suspect it’s actually the Where clause that’s the problem. I suspect you really want:

var pcs = db.Hardware.Where(h => h.HardwareType.Any(hwt => hwt.HType == "PC"));
ViewBag.Pcs = pcs.ToList(); // Materialize the query

The problem is trying to use your hwt value as input to the query…