c# - MVC4 bind model to ICollection or List in partial

Question

Given a Model

public class Task
{
public int TaskId { get; set; }
public string Title { get; set; }
public ICollection<SomeData> Information { get; set; }
}

where

public class SomeData
{
    public int SomeDataId { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
}

I have a view

@model myProject.Models.Task

<div>
    @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Title)
</div>

<table>
@Html.Partial("_InformationEdit", Model.Information.ToList(), new ViewDataDictionary(Html.ViewDataContainer.ViewData) {
                TemplateInfo = new System.Web.Mvc.TemplateInfo { HtmlFieldPrefix = "Information" }})
</table>                    

and my partial is

@model IList<myProject.Models.SomeData>

@for (int i = 0; i < Model.Count(); i++)
{
    <tr>
        <td>
            @Html.EditorFor(modelItem => Model[i].Description)
        </td>
    </tr>
 }

However

My Html fields are being rendered like

<input class="text-box single-line" id="Information__0__Description" name="Information.[0].Description" type="text">

Where the names should be Information[0].Description. It's got an additional dot in there, so is not being bound back to the model correctly when posted. How can I fix this?

As per Model binding to a list I can see what my Id's are supposed to be, but I just can't figure out the correct syntax.

Also, is there a more elegant way to achieve this with an IEnumerable using a @foreach ?

Related:

ASP.Net MVC4 bind a "create view" to a model that contains List

ASP.NET MVC model binding an IList<> parameter

Answer 1

You could use the <input... directly like this:

Page:

<table>
    @Html.Partial("_InformationEdit", Model.Information)
</table>

Partial Page:

@for (int i = 0; i < Model.Count(); i++)
{
    <tr>
        <td>
            <input class="text-box single-line" id="Information[@i]Description" name="Information[@i].Description" type="text" value="@Model[i].Description" />
        </td>
    </tr>
}

Or, to be able to pass the prefix as in your example you could keep the Page code the same and change your partial like:

Page:

<table>        
    @Html.Partial("_InformationEdit", Model.Information, 
        new ViewDataDictionary(Html.ViewDataContainer.ViewData) 
        {
            TemplateInfo = new System.Web.Mvc.TemplateInfo { HtmlFieldPrefix = "Information" }
        })
</table>

Partial Page:

@for (int i = 0; i < Model.Count(); i++)
{
    <tr>
        <td>
            @{
                string fieldName = string.Format("{0}[{1}].Description", ViewData.TemplateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix, i);
                <input class="text-box single-line" id="@fieldName" name="@fieldName" type="text" value="@Model[i].Description" />
            }
        </td>
    </tr>
}