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Newbie to ASP.net MVC 4 and trying to make sense of Razor. If I wanted to just display some text in my .cshtml page, can I use 

<label class="LabelCSSTop">Introduction</label>

or should I use:

 @Html.Label("STW", htmlAttributes: new { @class = "LabelCSSTop" })

Not sure if one is preferred over the other or if either is okay. If the latter emits the label tag anyway, should I just stick to the former?

Again, if I just wanted to display a text box, can I just do this:

<input id="txtName" type="text" />

or should I do this:

@Html.TextBox("txtName", "")

Is there a situation when I should use the @Html over the regular html tag?

Thanks in advance!!

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6 Answers 6

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13

In the case of your label snippet, it doesn't really matter. I would go for the simpler syntax (plain HTML).

Most helper methods also don't allow you to surround another element. This can be a consideration when choosing to use/not use one.

Strongly-Typed Equivalents

However, it's worth noting that what you use the @Html.[Element]For<T>() methods that you gain important features. Note the "For" at the end of the method name.

Example:

@Html.TextBoxFor( o => o.FirstName )

This will handle ID/Name creation based on object hierarchy (which is critical for model binding). It will also add unobtrusive validation attributes. These methods take an Expression as an argument which refers to a property within the model. The metadata of this property is obtained by the MVC framework, and as such it "knows" more about the property than its string-argument counterpart.

It also allows you to deal with UI code in a strongly-typed fashion. Visual Studio will highlight syntax errors, whereas it cannot do so with a string. Views can also be optionally compiled along with the solution, allowing for additional compile-time checks.

Other Considerations

Occasionally a HTML helper method will also perform additional tasks which are useful, such as Html.Checkbox and Html.CheckboxFor which also create a hidden field to go along with the checkbox. Another example are the URL-related methods (such as for a hyperlink) which are route-aware.

<!-- bad -->
<a href="/foo/bar/123">my link</a>

<!-- good -->
@Html.ActionLink( "my link", "foo", "bar", new{ id=123 } )

<!-- also fine (perhaps you want to wrap something with the anchor) -->
<a href="@Url.Action( "foo", "bar", new{ id=123 } )"><span>my link</span></a>

There is a slight performance benefit to using plain HTML versus code which must be executed whenever the view is rendered, although this should not be the deciding factor.

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2

Depends on what your are doing.

If you have SPA (Single-Page Application) the you can use:

<input id="txtName" type="text" />

Otherwise using Html helpers is recommended, to get your controls bound with your model.

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3 Comments

You do not have to used the Html helpers to get your form elements to bind with your model. If you name your form elements like they are named in the model with manual form input generation, the model binder will still bind to them
I didn't say 'have to'. I said recommended. You have multiple helpers to help you control your elements, localization and validation messages.
Sorry you statement reads as if it is recommended to use the helpers because it gets your controls to bind with your model. My mistake
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If you want to just display some text in your .cshtml page, I do not recommend @Html.Label and also not to use the html label as well. The element represents a caption in a user interface. and you'll see that in the case of @Html.Label, a for attribute is added, referring to the id of a, possibly non-existent, element. The value of this attribute is the value of the model field, in which non-alphanumerics are replaced by underscores. You should use @Html.Display or @Html.DisplayFor, possibly wrapped in some plain html elements line span or p.

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1

The helpers are there mainly to help you display labels, form inputs, etc for the strongly typed properties of your model. By using the helpers and Visual Studio Intellisense, you can greatly reduce the number of typos that you could make when generating a web page.

With that said, you can continue to create your elements manually for both properties of your view model or items that you want to display that are not part of your view model.

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When it comes to labels, I would say it's up to you what you prefer. Some examples when it can be useful with HTML helper tags are, for instance

  • When dealing with hyperlinks, since the HTML helper simplifies routing
  • When you bind to your model, using @Html.LabelFor, @Html.TextBoxFor, etc
  • When you use the @Html.EditorFor, as you can assign specific behavior och looks in a editor view
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@html.label and @html.textbox are use when you want bind it to your model in a easy way...which cannot be achieve by input etc. in one line

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