Create List with anonymous objects

Question

What I try is add some dummy records which I want to use in an ASP.NET MVC 3 view to provide data for some experiments. I try this:

var dummyData = new[]
            {
                new  {Row = 1, Col = 1, IsRequired = true, QuestionText = "Yes?", FieldValue = "int"},
                new  {Row = 1, Col = 2, IsRequired = true, QuestionText = "Yes?", FieldValue = "int"},
                new  {Row = 2, Col = 1, IsRequired = true, QuestionText = "No?", FieldValue = "string"},
                new  {Row = 3, Col = 1, IsRequired = false, QuestionText = "No?", FieldValue = "string"}
            }.ToList();
            ViewBag.Header = dummyData;

However when I try to use the data in my view :

@{
          foreach (var item in ViewBag.Header)
          {

              <tr><td>@item.QuestionText</td><td>@item.FieldValue</td></tr>

          }
       }

I get this error - 'object' does not contain a definition for 'QuestionText'. I'm thinking that there's something wrong with the way I create the list but not 100% sure.

I would advise you do not rely on anonymous objects and the view bag so much. Things are much better when they are strongly typed — musefan
– musefan, Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 15:26
Related... stackoverflow.com/questions/713521/… I would suggest using a Tuple class. — Jace Rhea
– Jace Rhea, Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 15:26
see my this example of creating viewmodel => stackoverflow.com/questions/15432246/… — Idrees Khan
– Idrees Khan, Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 15:32
I'm learning on the fly. Have to check what exactly viewmodel can do for me here, and also I have previous experience with Windows Forms application where we vastly use anonymous objects and it was perfectly fine so I just decided to follow this line. — Leron
– Leron, Commented Apr 22, 2013 at 15:33

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:16:06Z

3

An anonymous type is local to the scope from which it was declared. You are not going to easily be able to get properties off it outside the scope of the type declaration. Related question.

I would suggest using a Tuple or just create a simple POCO object for the data.

var dummyData = new[]
        {
            Tuple.Create(1, 1, true, "Yes?", "int"),
        }.ToList();
        ViewBag.Header = dummyData;

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:16

CommunityBot

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answered Apr 22, 2013 at 15:34

Jace Rhea

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1 Comment

Leron Over a year ago

Not what I really wanted but closest to some solution.

b_meyer · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-24 14:57:31Z

3

var dummyData = new List<dynamic>
        {
            new  {Row = 1, Col = 1, IsRequired = true, QuestionText = "Yes?", FieldValue = "int"},
            new  {Row = 1, Col = 2, IsRequired = true, QuestionText = "Yes?", FieldValue = "int"},
            new  {Row = 2, Col = 1, IsRequired = true, QuestionText = "No?", FieldValue = "string"},
            new  {Row = 3, Col = 1, IsRequired = false, QuestionText = "No?", FieldValue = "string"}
        };
        ViewBag.Header = dummyData;

That should do the trick.

answered Apr 24, 2013 at 14:57

b_meyer

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Comments

Mike Perrenoud · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-22 15:24:53Z

1

Change your foreach definition to this:

@{ foreach (dynamic item in ViewBag.Header) {

the problem is that they are anonymous classes so they need to be used as dynamic classes so the CLR can late bind the object at runtime.

answered Apr 22, 2013 at 15:24

Mike Perrenoud

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