View generating error message: String was not recognized as a valid Boolean

Question

Within an admin page I originally was generating several checkboxes within a view as per below:

Model:

public class Foo
{
    public const string Bar = "SomeString";
}

View:

@Html.CheckBox(Foo.Bar)
@Html.Label(Foo.Bar)

However, I wanted to change the display name of several of the checkboxes, so I created a view model (to later add a display name attribute):

public class FooViewModel
{
     public string Bar
     {
         get { return Foo.Bar; }
     }
}

And modified the view:

@Html.CheckBox(Model.Bar)
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.Bar)

However, the view is now generating an error when rendering the checkbox:

String was not recognized as a valid Boolean

Note, that if I change the property name within the view model to anything other than "Bar" the view is rendered correct. EG:

public class FooViewModel
{
     public string WTF
     {
         get { return Foo.Bar; }
     }
}

@Html.CheckBox(Model.WTF)
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.WTF)

Can anybody explain to me why this error is occurring if my viewmodel property is named "Bar"?

Edit: I have updated my question slightly seeing as how, i'm generating some confusion. The view is used as a search form and the checkboxes are simply used for selecting "search critera".

I'm generating the checkbox in this fashion so the name / id of the checkbox is related to corresponding business logic within the controller.

I'm aware that code will not compile if property name / field name within the same class are identical. That is not the issue, as i'm simply initializing a property from constant within a different namespace.

@ChrisF No, that parameter would be a string: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd460245.aspx — user596075
– user596075, Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 21:40
@Shark - ah thanks - it's been a while since I did this stuff. Comment deleted. — ChrisF
– ChrisF, Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 21:41
Are you referencing the property as though it is a static one? How did that even compile? — user596075
– user596075, Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 21:46
@Shark yes, that is correct. Everything works / compiles correctly as long as the property name of the 'view model' is different than that of the backing constant string from the base model. — Jesse
– Jesse, Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 22:00

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-04 23:04:07Z

1

You cannot have a constant called Bar and a property called Bar:

public class Foo
{
    public const string Bar = "SomeString";

    public string Bar
    {
        get { return Foo.Bar; }
    }
}

This particular code snippet is invalid C# and won't even compile.

This being said the CheckBox/CheckBoxFor helpers in ASP.NET MVC work with boolean values. So I really don't understand why are you even attempting to bind it to a string property and the purpose of this Bar string constant.

The correct would be to have the following view model:

public class MyViewModel
{
    [Display(Name = "som estring")]
    public bool MyBoolValue { get; set; }
}

and in the strongly typed view:

@Html.LabelFor(x => x.MyBoolValue)
@Html.CheckBoxFor(x => x.MyBoolValue)

answered Mar 4, 2012 at 23:04

Darin Dimitrov

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1 Comment

Jesse Over a year ago

Thanks Darin, I have updated my question slightly to avoid the confusion I was causing. The property is simply being initialized from a constant value from a class in a different namespace. They are not in the same class as per your example.

Jesse · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-05 23:40:28Z

0

Using a different checkbox constructor resolves the issue:

@Html.CheckBox(Model.Bar, false)
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.Bar)

edited Mar 5, 2012 at 23:40

answered Mar 4, 2012 at 22:59

Jesse

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1 Comment

RPM1984 Over a year ago

i still don't get what your trying to do. CheckBox needs to bind to a bool, not a string. You should be doing @Html.CheckBoxFor(model => model.SomeBooleanProperty)

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