I am trying to formulate a work-around for the lack of a "checkbox group" in ASP.NET MVC. The typical way to implement this is to have check boxes of the same name, each with the value it represents.

<input type="checkbox" name="n" value=1 />
<input type="checkbox" name="n" value=2 />
<input type="checkbox" name="n" value=3 />

When submitted, it will comma delimit all values to the request item "n".. so Request["n"] == "1,2,3" if all three are checked when submitted. In ASP.NET MVC, you can have a parameter of n as an array to accept this post.

public ActionResult ActionName( int[] n ) { ... }

All of the above works fine. The problem I have is that when validation fails, the check boxes are not restored to their checked state. Any suggestions.

Problem Code: (I started with the default asp.net mvc project)

Controller

    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {   var t = getTestModel("First");
            return View(t);
        }

        [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
        public ActionResult Index(TestModelView t)
        {   if(String.IsNullOrEmpty( t.TextBoxValue))
                ModelState.AddModelError("TextBoxValue", "TextBoxValue required.");
            var newView = getTestModel("Next");
            return View(newView);
        }

        private TestModelView getTestModel(string prefix)
        {   var t = new TestModelView();
            t.Checkboxes = new List<CheckboxInfo>()
            {   new CheckboxInfo(){Text = prefix + "1", Value="1", IsChecked=false},
                new CheckboxInfo(){Text = prefix + "2", Value="2", IsChecked=false} 
            };
            return t;
        }
    }
    public class TestModelView
    {   public string TextBoxValue { get; set; }
        public List<CheckboxInfo> Checkboxes { get; set; }
    }
    public class CheckboxInfo
    {   public string Text { get; set; }
        public string Value { get; set; }
        public bool IsChecked { get; set; }
    }
}

ASPX

<%
using( Html.BeginForm() ){ 
%>  <p><%= Html.ValidationSummary() %></p>
    <p><%= Html.TextBox("TextBoxValue")%></p>
    <p><%  
    int i = 0;
    foreach (var cb in Model.Checkboxes)
    { %>
        <input type="checkbox" name="Checkboxes[<%=i%>]" 
            value="<%= Html.Encode(cb.Value) %>" <%=cb.IsChecked ? "checked=\"checked\"" : String.Empty %> 
            /><%= Html.Encode(cb.Text)%><br />
    <%      i++;
    } %></p>
    <p><input type="submit" value="submit" /></p>
<%
}
%>

Working Code

Controller

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
public ActionResult Index(TestModelView t)
{
    if(String.IsNullOrEmpty( t.TextBoxValue))
    {   ModelState.AddModelError("TextBoxValue", "TextBoxValue required.");
        return View(t); 
    }
    var newView = getTestModel("Next");
    return View(newView);
}

ASPX

int i = 0;
foreach (var cb in Model.Checkboxes)
{ %>
    <input type="checkbox" name="Checkboxes[<%=i%>].IsChecked" <%=cb.IsChecked ? "checked=\"checked\"" : String.Empty %> value="true" />
    <input type="hidden"   name="Checkboxes[<%=i%>].IsChecked" value="false" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Checkboxes[<%=i%>].Value" value="<%= cb.Value %>" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Checkboxes[<%=i%>].Text" value="<%= cb.Text %>" />
    <%= Html.Encode(cb.Text)%><br />
<%      i++;
} %></p>
<p><input type="submit" value="submit" /></p>

Of course something similar could be done with Html Helpers, but this works.