How to handle ViewBag with null values from linq with left outer join in razor view

Question

I'm joining multiple tables using linq. The problem is, I have to join a table, that will have some null values in some rows. I think the join itself is working fine, but when I iterate through my ViewBag, I get an error because of the null values.

This is my code: Controller:

ViewBag.coaching = (from kst in db.kursister
                                 join kursus_kursist in db.kursus_kursist
                                 on kst.kursist_id equals kursus_kursist.kursist_id
                                 join kursus in db.kurser
                                 on kursus_kursist.kursus_id equals kursus.kursus_id
                                 join coach in db.jobcoach
                                 on kst.kursist_id equals coach.kursist_id into coachJoin
                                 where kursus.kursus_id == id
                                 from cj in coachJoin.DefaultIfEmpty()
                                select new CoachHoldModel { kst = kst, kursus = kursus, cj = cj });

Here's my view:

@model IEnumerable<Itucation.Models.CoachHoldModel>

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Karriere Coach Hold";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}

<h2>Protokol</h2>

<div>

    <h3>
        @{
            foreach (var navn in (ViewBag.kursus))
            {
                @navn.kursus_navn
            }
        }
    </h3>
    <table class="table-bordered">
        <tr>
            <td colspan="2" style="border:0;"></td>
            <th>Status</th>
            <td><img src="~/Content/Images/logo.png" height="30" /></td>
        </tr>

        @{
            foreach (var item in (ViewBag.coaching))
            {
                <tr>
                    <td>@item.kst.fornavn</td>
                    <td>@item.kst.efternavn</td>
                    <td>
                        @item.cj.status
                    </td>

                    <td colspan="2"></td>
                </tr>
            }
        }
    </table>
</div>

It is the @item.cj.status that will contain null values.

The forech loop iterates through a list of students. Some students have a status set, some do not. i would like to display the value for the students, who have a status value - and ignore the others.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Why not test if it's not null and then show the status?

<td>
    @if (item.cj != null) // or item.cj?.status
    {
        <span>@item.cj.status</span>
    }
</td>