Question

Using ASP.Net MVC3 with C#.

Currently I am trying to pass a single database record to my view page creating my own ad rotator.

Here is my controller code.

var rand = new Random((int) DateTime.Now.Ticks);
int numIterations = 0;
numIterations = rand.Next(1, 2);

CJAd cjad = db.CJAds.Single(c => c.category_id == 1 && c.ad_active == true && c.id == numIterations);

ViewData["SideBarAd"] = cjad;

Every code sample I have seen shows how to cycle through multiple records. How do I turn the ViewData on the view page into a database object and display it?

It tried this

@ViewData["SideBarAd"].ad_url

But received the error

CS1061: ‘object’ does not contain a definition for ‘ad_url’ and no extension method ‘ad_url’ accepting a first argument of type ‘object’ could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

Answer 1

Why don’t you just include the CJAd in your view model? That’s much simpler.

However, if you’re determined, use ViewBag instead, then you don’t need to cast.

ViewBag.SideBarAd = cjad;

in your view (assuming SideBarAd is a string that is the url to your ad)

<img src="@ViewBag.SideBarAd"/>