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Passing Data in an ASP.NET MVC Application

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The ASP.NET MVC framework provides page-level containers that can pass data between controllers and views. This topic explains how to pass both weakly typed and strongly typed data in an MVC application. It also explains how to pass temporary state data between action methods.

Passing Data Between a Controller and a View

To render a view, you call the View method of the controller. To pass data to the view, you use the ViewData property of the ViewPage class. This property returns a ViewDataDictionary object that has case-insensitive string keys. To pass data to the view, you can assign values to the dictionary, as shown in the following example:

Dim petList As List(Of String) = New List(Of String)
petList.Add("Dog")
petList.Add("Cat")
petList.Add("Hamster")
petList.Add("Parrot")
petList.Add("Gold fish")
petList.Add("Mountain lion")
petList.Add("Elephant")

ViewData("pets") = New SelectList(petList)

List<string> petList = new List<string>();
petList.Add("Dog");
petList.Add("Cat");
petList.Add("Hamster");
petList.Add("Parrot");
petList.Add("Gold fish");
petList.Add("Mountain lion");
petList.Add("Elephant");

ViewData["Pets"] = new SelectList(petList);

If you call the View method without parameters (as shown in the previous example), the controller object's ViewData property is passed to the view that has the same name as the action method.

In the view page, you can access the ViewData property to obtain data that was passed to the view. The ViewData property is a dictionary that supports an indexer that accepts dictionary keys.

The following example shows the markup for a view that displays the data in an HTML form and enables the user to modify values and make selections.

<h2><%= Html.Encode(ViewData("Message")) %></h2>
<br /><br />
<% Using Html.BeginForm("HandleForm", "Home")%>
    Enter your name: <%= Html.TextBox("name") %>
    <br /><br />
    Select your favorite color:<br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Blue", true) %> Blue <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Purple", false)%> Purple <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Red", false)%> Red <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Orange", false)%> Orange <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Yellow", false)%> Yellow <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Brown", false)%> Brown <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Green", false)%> Green 
    <br /><br />
    <%=Html.CheckBox("bookType")%> I read more fiction than non-fiction.<br />
    <br /><br />
    My favorite pet: <%=Html.DropDownList("pets")%>
    <br /><br />
    <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
<% End Using%>

<h2><%= Html.Encode(ViewData["Message"]) %></h2>
<br /><br />
<% using(Html.BeginForm("HandleForm", "Home")) %>
<% { %>
    Enter your name: <%= Html.TextBox("name") %>
    <br /><br />
    Select your favorite color:<br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Blue", true) %> Blue <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Purple", false)%> Purple <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Red", false)%> Red <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Orange", false)%> Orange <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Yellow", false)%> Yellow <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Brown", false)%> Brown <br />
    <%= Html.RadioButton("favColor", "Green", false)%> Green 
    <br /><br />
    <%= Html.CheckBox("bookType") %> I read more fiction than non-fiction.<br />
    <br /><br />
    My favorite pet: <%= Html.DropDownList("pets") %>
    <br /><br />
    <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
<% } %>

Passing Strongly-Typed Data Between a Controller and a View

When you pass data between a view and a controller by using the ViewData property of the ViewPage class, the data is not strongly typed. If you want to pass strongly typed data, change the @ Page declaration of the view so that the view inherits from ViewPage<TModel> instead of from ViewPage, as shown in the following example:

<%@ Page Inherits="ViewPage<Product>" %>

ViewPage<TModel> is the strongly-typed version of ViewPage. The ViewData property of ViewPage<TModel> returns a ViewDataDictionary<TModel> object, which contains strongly typed data for the view based on a model. The model is a class that contains properties for each data item that you want to pass. (A simpler approach to creating a strongly typed view page is to use the Add View dialog box.)

The following example shows the definition of a typical data model class named Person.

Imports System.Web.DynamicData
Imports System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations

Public Class Person
    <Required(ErrorMessage:="The ID is required.")> _
    Private _Id As Integer
    Public Property Id() As Integer
        Get
            Return _Id
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _Id = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <Required(ErrorMessage:="The name is required.")> _
    Private _Name As String
    Public Property Name() As String
        Get
            Return _Name
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _Name = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <Range(1, 200, ErrorMessage:="A number between 1 and 200.")> _
    Private _Age As Integer
    Public Property Age() As Integer
        Get
            Return _Age
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            _Age = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <RegularExpression("((\(\d{3}\) ?)|(\d{3}-))?\d{3}-\d{4}", _
            ErrorMessage:="Invalid phone number.")> _
    Private _Phone As String
    Public Property Phone() As String
        Get
            Return _Phone
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _Phone = value
        End Set
    End Property

    <RegularExpression("^[\w-\.]+@([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]{2,4}$", _
            ErrorMessage:="Invalid email address.")> _
    Private _Email As String
    Public Property Email() As String
        Get
            Return _Email
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            _Email = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;

namespace MvcDataViews.Models
{
    public class Person
    {
        [Required(ErrorMessage = "The ID is required.")]
        public int Id { get; set; }

        [Required(ErrorMessage = "The name is required.")]
        public string Name { get; set; }

        [Range(1, 200, ErrorMessage = "A number between 1 and 200.")]
        public int Age { get; set; }

        [RegularExpression(@"((\(\d{3}\) ?)|(\d{3}-))?\d{3}-\d{4}", 
            ErrorMessage = "Invalid phone number.")]
        public string Phone { get; set; }

        [RegularExpression(@"^[\w-\.]+@([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]{2,4}$", 
            ErrorMessage = "Invalid email address.")]
        public string Email { get; set; }
    }
}

The following example shows a view that enables the user to modify the values of a Person object and to submit the changes for update.

The following example shows the action method that receives a Person object from the Edit view, checks its validity against the model, updates a list of Person objects, and then redirects to the Index action.

<HttpPost()> _
Function Delete(ByVal p As Person) As ActionResult
    For Each pn As Person In people
        If (pn.Id = p.Id) Then
            people.Remove(pn)
            Exit For
        End If
    Next

    Return RedirectToAction("Index")
End Function

For more information and links to downloadable samples that illustrate strongly typed views, see How to: Validate Model Data Using DataAnnotations Attributesand Walkthrough: Using Templated Helpers to Display Data in ASP.NET MVC.

Passing State Between Action Methods

Action methods might have to pass data to another action, such as if an error occurs when a form is being posted, or if the method must redirect to additional methods, as might occur when the user is directed to a login view and then back to the original action method.

An action method can store data in the controller's TempDataDictionary object before it calls the controller's RedirectToAction method to invoke the next action. The TempData property value is stored in session state. Any action method that is called after the TempDataDictionary value is set can get values from the object and then process or display them. The value of TempData persists until it is read or until the session times out. Persisting TempData in this way enables scenarios such as redirection, because the values in TempData are available beyond a single request.

Note

This behavior is new in ASP.NET MVC 2. In earlier versions of ASP.NET MVC, the values in TempData was available only until the next request.

The following example shows a data class that is used to trap an error and to transfer data between actions.

Public Class InsertError
    Public Property ErrorMessage() As String
    End Property
    Public Property OriginalFirstName() As String
    End Property
    Public Property OriginalLastName() As String
    End Property
End Class

' CustomersController

Public Function InsertCustomer(ByVal firstName As String, _
        ByVal lastName As String) As ActionResult
    ' Check for input errors.
    If String.IsNullOrEmpty(firstName) Or _
            String.IsNullOrEmpty(lastName) Then
        Dim err As InsertError =  New InsertError() 
        err.ErrorMessage = "Both names are required."
        err.OriginalFirstName = firstName
        err.OriginalLastName = lastName
        TempData("error") = err
        Return RedirectToAction("NewCustomer")
    End If

    ' No errors
    ' ...
    Return View()
End Function

Public Function NewCustomer() As ActionResult
    Dim err As InsertError =  CType(TempData("error"), InsertError)
    If Not err Is Nothing Then
        ' If there is error data from the previous action, display it.
        ViewData("FirstName") = err.OriginalFirstName
        ViewData("LastName") = err.OriginalLastName
        ViewData("ErrorMessage") = err.ErrorMessage
    End If

    ' ...
    Return View()
End Function

public class InsertError
{
    public string ErrorMessage { get; set; }
    public string OriginalFirstName { get; set; }
    public string OriginalLastName { get; set; }
}

// CustomersController

public ActionResult InsertCustomer(string firstName, string lastName)
{
    // Check for input errors.
    if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(firstName) ||
            String.IsNullOrEmpty(lastName))
    {
        InsertError error = new InsertError();
        error.ErrorMessage = "Both names are required.";
        error.OriginalFirstName = firstName;
        error.OriginalLastName = lastName;
        TempData["error"] = error;
        return RedirectToAction("NewCustomer");
    }
    // No errors
    // ...
    return View();
}

public ActionResult NewCustomer()
{
    InsertError err = TempData["error"] as InsertError;
    if (err != null)
    {
        // If there is error data from the previous action, display it.
        ViewData["FirstName"] = err.OriginalFirstName;
        ViewData["LastName"] = err.OriginalLastName;
        ViewData["ErrorMessage"] = err.ErrorMessage;
    }
    // ...
    return View();
}

The following example shows the markup for a view that accepts user input and displays an error message if an error occurs.

<form action="/Home/InsertCustomer">
  <% if (ViewData["ErrorMessage"] != null) { %>
    The following error occurred while inserting the customer data:
    <br />
    <%= ViewData["ErrorMessage"] %>
    <br />
  <% } %>

  First name: 
  <input type="text" name="firstName" value="<%= ViewData["FirstName"] %>" />
  <br />
  Last name: 
  <input type="text" name="lastName" value="<%= ViewData["LastName"] %>" />
  <br />    
  <input type="submit" value="Insert" />
</form>

See Also

Tasks

Walkthrough: Using Templated Helpers to Display Data in ASP.NET MVC

How to: Validate Model Data Using DataAnnotations Attributes

Concepts

Views and UI Rendering in ASP.NET MVC Applications