Sending data with viewbag

Question

I am working on a project. I need to get several data from database and send to view. I have already a list of data. And I also want to send my another datas via viewbag. I queried my related data from database.

ClassController.cs

public ActionResult ClassTeacherDetail(int id)
        {

            ViewBag.dgr = db.Teachers.Where(m => m.Id == id).FirstOrDefault();


            var myList = (from t in db.Appointments
                     from d in t.WeekDays
                     where t.TeacherId == id
                     select new { DayName=d.Name, WHours=t.Hours }
                ).ToList();


            // Get the languages which can be learned by the teacher based on teacher id
            var query = from t in db.Teachers.Where(x => x.Id == id)
                        from l in t.Languages
                        select new
                        {
                            LangName = l.Name,
                        };
            var list = new List<Language>();
            foreach (var item in query)
            {
                list.Add(new Language()
                {
                    Name = item.LangName
                });
            }

            return View(list);
        }

enter image description here

As you see, I got the working hours and days from separate tables. By the way, what is the type of myList? If I would send it to view, what will the model type be?

How can I pass the myList?

Answer 1

myList is a List of type Anonymous object, there's nothing wrong with that but it will be hard to keep track of. What we need to do is make a class/model for it THEN make a viewmodel that will contain both variables.

1. Make a model or view model for myList anonymous object, I used TeacherAppointment;

// if the property/data type doesn't match with your Appointments model, please change accordingly
public class TeacherAppointment {
   public string DayName {get;set;}
   public string WHours {get;set;}
}

2. Update myList LINQ to store it to a TeacherAppointment object. myList is now List<TeacherAppointment>

var myList = (from t in db.Appointments
                from d in t.WeekDays
                where t.TeacherId == id
                select new TeacherAppointment { DayName=d.Name, WHours=t.Hours }
              ).ToList();

3. Create a view model that will contain 2 models.

public class TeacherDetailViewModel{
   public List<TeacherAppointment> TeacherAppointments {get;set;}
   public List<Language> Languages {get;set;}
}

4. In your view, you should use;

@model TeacherDetailViewModel

5. Your controller code should be;

public ActionResult ClassTeacherDetail(int id)
        {

            ViewBag.dgr = db.Teachers.Where(m => m.Id == id).FirstOrDefault();


            var myList = (from t in db.Appointments
                     from d in t.WeekDays
                     where t.TeacherId == id
                     select new TeacherAppointment { DayName=d.Name, WHours=t.Hours }
                ).ToList();


            // Get the languages which can be learned by the teacher based on teacher id
            var query = from t in db.Teachers.Where(x => x.Id == id)
                        from l in t.Languages
                        select new
                        {
                            LangName = l.Name,
                        };
            var list = new List<Language>();
            foreach (var item in query)
            {
                list.Add(new Language()
                {
                    Name = item.LangName
                });
            }

            // instantiate view model
            TeacherDetailViewModel tdvm = new TeacherDetailViewModel();

            // assign myList and list to TeacherDetailViewModel
            tdvm.TeacherAppointments = myList;
            tdvm.Languages = list;

            // Pass tdvm to the view
            return View(tdvm);
        }

6. In your view again, if you want to loop;

@foreach(var a in Model.TeacherAppointments){
   ...
}

@foreach(var b in Model.Languages){
   ...
}