In my controller method I have the following simple comma separated string that I pass to my view using TempData:
var test = "hi,bye";
TempData["test"] = test;
In my view, I have the following js method:
var desks = @(TempData["test"]).split(",");
When I inspect the DOM using the Google Chrome developer console, I see the following:
var desks = hi,bye.split(",");
Why is the TempData string I pass losing it's quotes and becoming some sort of other object? What am I doing wrong?
The string you pass does not "lose" its quotes; the string value has no quotes, even though the string literal does.
You have to perform JavaScript string escaping yourself, something like this:
'@(TempData["test"].
Replace("\\", "\\\\").
Replace("\n", "\\n").
Replace("\r", "\\r").
Replace("'", "\\'"))'.split(",");
This will create an escaped string that is probably safe enough to output as a JavaScript string literal.
Another alternative is to call on JSON serialization to output the string, which will cover all your bases.
@Html.Raw((new JavaScriptSerializer()).Serialize(TempData["test"])) .split(",");
JavaScriptSerializer.Serialize will take any object (in this case, a string) and output it in a way that JavaScript understands.
Html.Raw will then make sure that the output from Serialize is written to the output stream without HTML-encoding.
The extra space between the last ) of C# code and the JavaScript .split is necessary. Without it, split is interpreted by Razor as the name of a C# method, which it is not.
To use the JavaScriptSerializer class, just add a @using System.Web.Script.Serialization directive at the top of your view.
@((new JavaScriptSerializer()).Serialize(TempData["test"])).split(","); outputs: "hi,bye".split(","). Why is this happening?@Html.Raw((new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer()).Serialize(TempData["test"]).Split(','));
@using directive, you won't have to include all that.You can simply do it:
'@(TempData["test"])'.split(",");
Javascript won't interpret if it's a string in C# or not. It just write the string in the code. You need to manually input the quotes before and after the C# code, so javascript will read the hi,bye as string.
