Name attribute on ASP.NET MVC action

Question

I have this action:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Test(Test test) 
{
    ...
}

With this class:

public class Test
{
    public string txtTest { get; set; }
}

An html form has a text field named txtTest, and I can successfully call into my action above. What property name would allow me to do this:

public class Test
{
    [SomeAttribute(Name = "txtTest")]
    public string MyTest { get; set; }
}

Currently I am forced to match the name of my C# class's variable with the form field's name. I cannot change the name of the form field. — Jason Fry
– Jason Fry, Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 18:14
If you change the name of the form field, it will not be mapped back correctly to your class. If you want to do custom fields, you'll also have to write a custom ModelBinder. This SMELLS of an XY Question, because you have some solution but you aren't telling us what problem it is solving. — Erik Philips
– Erik Philips, Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 18:22
Another way to say my question is "What attribute on a class property will allow me to name that property as I see fit while still allowing MVC to correctly create instances of those classes in a controller action". I don't believe that this is an XY question. — Jason Fry
– Jason Fry, Commented Nov 8, 2012 at 19:01

gdoron · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-08 18:21:28Z

2

Use ViewModel, don't use classes which are being used for something else.
Create ViewModel, for this specific View only.

one of the benefits is you don't need to change the names of properties the existing classes have.

You can use automapper which is highly used in MVC applications to map from the ViewModel to the Entity.

A good reading resource can be found here

edited Nov 8, 2012 at 18:21

answered Nov 8, 2012 at 18:15

gdoron

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2 Comments

Jason Fry Over a year ago

Perhaps I am misunderstanding you - I am not calling View() at all. I am simply trying to receive form data.

gdoron Over a year ago

@user961969, so get that data with the viewmodel in the POST action. you can use AutoMapper to map from the DTO to the CTO.

Bradley Thomas · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-08 18:18:41Z

1

Use the Display DataAnnotation

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.componentmodel.dataannotations.displayattribute.aspx

answered Nov 8, 2012 at 18:18

Bradley Thomas

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6 Comments

gdoron Over a year ago

I'm not sure it has anything to do with his question.

Jason Fry Over a year ago

I tried this to no avail: [DisplayAttribute(Name = "txtTest")] public string MyTest { get; set; }

Bradley Thomas Over a year ago

Do you have a reference to System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations ?

Jason Fry Over a year ago

Yes.The code compiled correctly, but the value from the form field was not present in the C# object.

Bradley Thomas Over a year ago

Can you post the internals of your action and also your view code thanks.

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