ASP.NET MVC - Adding multiple items to a list

Question

I've got the next question about the right way of adding items to a list in MVC.

Let's say I got the following model:

public class Student
{
    public String Name { get; set; }
    public List<Lesson> Lessons { get; set; }
}

Now I'm in the Student Create view in which the user can add multiple Lessons. The way the view looks is that there is a dropdown in which you can select a lesson and a button to add a new dropdown. This way a person can add multiple lessons to the Lessons variable.

Now I tried alot of different approaches but never seemed to have the right one because I don't like having this in the view:

 @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.Lessons[0].Id, new SelectList(...), "Select lesson")

And change the 0 to 1..2 etc with jquery or what so ever.

What are your approaches on those views in which you dynamicly add multiple items?

beyond-code · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-07 09:19:01Z

2

You should look at defining an editor template:

If you write your template correctly, asp.net will render controls with the names similar to:

Lesson[0]_Title

UPDATE: Here's how:

Create a folder in views\shared called EditorTemplates Then create a partial view with a model of type Lesson inside here. Make sure you call this partial view "Lesson.cshtml" (or ascx if you're not using razor)

Then you can do...

@Html.EditorFor(model => model.Lessons)

...and asp.net will magically figure out that because Lessons is an IEnumerable of lesson, it should loop and render an editor for each one. Pretty neat!

Some links:

http://forums.asp.net/t/1846290.aspx/1?Editor+template+of+type+IEnumerable+SelectListItem+with+MVC+area

edited Dec 7, 2012 at 9:19

answered Dec 7, 2012 at 9:08

beyond-code

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10 Comments

Julian Over a year ago

That would be a nice solution. Though we need the right template then indeed. It would be awesome if you could find the link you're talking about!

beyond-code Over a year ago

I'm struggling actually... I'm going to see if I can knock up an example quickly myself...

Julian Over a year ago

Thanks for pointing me at the EditorTemplates. Though if a new Student is made we don't know how many Lessons he will follow. So we should be able to dynamicly add new Editors for the Lessons.

beyond-code Over a year ago

Yes sorry... I have provided an update that is not strictly what you asked for, but should be a simpler way of achieveing it. Say you wanted to add x number of lessons, you can then prepopulate that number of lessons in the model, and it will provide an editor for each one which you can save in a single form. It's a little confusing so feel free to ask if you have more questions.

beyond-code Over a year ago

Alternatively there is a very nice solution that can be achieved using jquery and knockout to dynamically create\remove new lessons and then still have it compatible with .net when you submit the form, that I will be blogging about this weekend.

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