ASP.NET MVC using ViewData in javascript

Question

I am currently building a website in ASP.NET MVC. I am trying to access ViewData in javascript.

Is there any way that I can access a string value using javascript in a View that was stored in ViewData in a Controller Action. ( I am not able to figure out the right syntax ).

I wish to do something like..

var str = ViewData["Text"];

I tried the following:

var str = <%=ViewData["Text"] %>

but it didn't work.

Can someone please help.

Thanks.

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-02 22:26:59Z

62

Like this (Razor):

var str = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(ViewData["Text"]));

or (WebForms), using the JavaScriptSerializer (and after importing theproper namespace to your webform - System.Web.Script.Serialization):

var str = <%= new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(ViewData["Text"])) %>;

And please don't use ViewData in an ASP.NET MVC application. Use view models and strongly typed views so that your code looks like this:

var str = <%= new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(Model.Text) %>;

This technique is even cooler as now you can JSON serialize the entire view model:

var model = <%= new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(Model) %>;
var str = model.Text;

edited May 2, 2011 at 22:26

answered May 2, 2011 at 22:19

Darin Dimitrov

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2 Comments

DanDan Over a year ago

this is a very old post but I'll try my luck: Just where would you place that code? Inside @section Scripts, things like @Html... doesn't work

Alper Over a year ago

var str = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(ViewData["Text"])); perfect!

Dave Ward · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-02 22:19:41Z

11

That should be:

var str = '<%= ViewData["Text"] %>';

answered May 2, 2011 at 22:19

Dave Ward

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5 Comments

Darin Dimitrov Over a year ago

No, that's very bad. Never use something like this in a real world application. What if the text contains a quote? This code is pretty vulnerable to XSS attacks especially if this Text comes from user input.

Dave Ward Over a year ago

He was so close already, I thought it would be more helpful to answer the question he had than make it over-complicated.

Darin Dimitrov Over a year ago

this is not an answer to the question!!! This is an invitation to XSS attacks and advertising bad practices. We are not talking about over-complicating here. We are talking about answering the question. How can you possible say that this answers the question? I mean this code will break soon and it will be subject to yet another question on SO. I can't believe that this question was upvoted and you haven't deleted it yet so that it doesn't get indexed as someone might actually use this in his application.

Dave Ward Over a year ago

Your answer is clearly more widely applicable. Given your comments here and in your own answer, I'm sure he'll understand to encode and escape if he expects apostrophes or user-generated data in his ViewData. I also believe that him seeing what was wrong with his own, more simple code is valuable.

RPM1984 Over a year ago

I agree. Darin's is the proper answer - but it's good to know the other (albeit "not recommended") way too. +1 to both of you.

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