Html helpers for enum in Asp .Net MVC

Question

I have two models classes:

1. Employee.cs

    public class Employee
    {
        public int Id { get; set; } 
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public ProjectType Project { get; set; }
    }

2. ProjectType.cs

    public enum ProjectType
    {
        Project1,
        Project2,
        Project3,
        Project4
    }

In the Create view for Employee, I want to display projects with possibility to check few of them.

I have created a foreach loop with Html.RadioButtonFor in Create view

@model App.Data.Models.Employee
@using App.Data.Models;
    
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Create";
}

<h2>Create</h2>

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    @Html.AntiForgeryToken()
}

<div class="form-horizontal">

<div class="form-group">
   @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Project, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "control-label col-md-2" })
    <div class="col-md-10">
        @foreach (var project in Enum.GetValues(typeof(ProjectType)))
        {
        <div class="col-md-10">

            @Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.Project, project)
            @Html.Label(project.ToString())
        </div>
                }
        </div>

        </div>

    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
        <div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10">
            <input type="submit" value="Create" class="btn btn-default" />
        </div>
    </div>

Which would work just fine if I would be able to choose more than one option. I am assuming that in this case I should create foreach loop with Html.CheckBoxFor and I was trying to do this like in this instruction -> http://findnerd.com/list/view/How-to-bind-checkbox-with-enum-values-in-MVC/25707/

But it didn't really work: I didn't add anything to ProjectType.cs. I have added one class to Employee.cs

 public class Employee
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public List<EnumModel> CheckBoxProjectType { get; set; }
    }
    public class EnumModel
    {
        public ProjectType ProjectType { get; set; }
        public bool isSelected { get; set; }
    }

And when I was creating a loop in EmployeeController - CheckBoxProjectType was underlined in red:

  public ActionResult Create()
        {
            ProjectType model = new ProjectType();
            model.CheckBoxProjectType = new List<EnumModel>();
            foreach (ProjectType projectType in Enum.GetValues(typeof(ProjectType)))
            {
                model.CheckBoxProjectType.Add(new EnumModel() { ProjectType = projectType, isSelected = false });
            }
            return View();
        }

In create view I was trying to copy the loop from the link I have posted earlier

@model App.Data.Models.Employee
@using App.Data.Models;
    
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Create";
}

<h2>Create</h2>

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    @Html.AntiForgeryToken()
}

<div class="form-horizontal">
    
       <div class="form-group">
      
            <div class="col-md-10">
                @for (int i = 0; i < Model.CheckBoxProjectType.Count; i++)
                {
                    @Html.DisplayFor(m => m.CheckBoxProjectType[i].ProjectType);
                    @Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.CheckBoxProjectType[i].isSelected);
                    @Html.HiddenFor(m => m.CheckBoxProjectType[i].ProjectType);
                }


                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ProjectType, "", new { @class = "text-danger" })

        

            </div>

        </div>

    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
        <div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10">
            <input type="submit" value="Create" class="btn btn-default" />
        </div>
    </div>

Can someone guide me how to create foreach loop for enum?

Answer 1

I can see the error already - "i" is not defined and not assigned. How could you compile this?

 @Html.LabelFor(m => m.CheckBoxProjectType[i].ProjectType);

User just " Projects " instead.

And I don't see any @model in your create view and acton too.

public ActionResult Create()
        {
            ProjectType model = new ProjectType();
              //Where is your ProjectType class?
             // and why I see an Employee AS a model in your view?
......
           
       //you have to change your return to this

            return View(model);
        }

And it is better idea to create a special viewModel like this to use as model (put it in a separate file) :

public class EmployeeViewModel
{
        public Employee Employee{ get; set; }
        public List<EnumModel> EnumModels{ get; set; }
 }

and your Employee will be:

public class Employee
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string FirstName { get; set; }
        public string LastName { get; set; }
        public List<ProjectType > ProjectTypes { get; set; }
    }

and your new create action will be like this:

public ActionResult Create()
        {
            var model = new EmployeeViewModel{
                Employee=new Employee, 
                EnumModels=new List<EnumModel>()
               };
           
            foreach (var projectType in Enum.GetValues(typeof(ProjectType)))
            {
                model.EnumModels.Add(new EnumModel { ProjectType = projectType, 
                isSelected = false });
            }
            return View(model);
        }

and in your create view replace Employee by EmployeeModel ( and I think you have to add some Employee input controls too) :

@using App.Data.Models
@model EmployeeViewModel
    
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Create";
}

<h2>Create</h2>

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
    @Html.AntiForgeryToken()
}

<div class="form-horizontal">
    
       <div class="form-group">
      <h5> Projects </h5>
            <div class="col-md-10">

                @for (int i = 0; i < Model.EnumModels.Count; i++)
                {
                    @Html.DisplayFor(m => m.EnumModels[i].ProjectType);
                    @Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.EnumModels[i].isSelected);
                    @Html.HiddenFor(m => m.EnumModels[i].ProjectType);
                }


                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EnumModels, "", new {  
        class = "text-danger" })

            </div>

        </div>

    </div>

    <div class="form-group">
        <div class="col-md-offset-2 col-md-10">
            <input type="submit" value="Create" class="btn btn-default" />
        </div>
    </div>