Building a template to auto-scaffold Index views in ASP.NET MVC
- by DanM
I'm trying to write an auto-scaffolder for Index views. I'd like to be able to pass in a collection of models or view-models (e.g., IQueryable<MyViewModel>) and get back an HTML table that uses the DisplayName attribute for the headings (th elements) and Html.Display(propertyName) for the cells (td elements). Each row should correspond to one item in the collection.
Here's what I have so far:
<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %>
<%
var items = (IQueryable<TestProj.ViewModels.TestViewModel>)Model;
// Should be generic!
var properties = items.First().GetMetadata().Properties
.Where(pm => pm.ShowForDisplay && !ViewData.TemplateInfo.Visited(pm));
%>
<table>
<tr>
<%
foreach(var property in properties)
{
%>
<th>
<%= property.DisplayName %>
</th>
<%
}
%>
</tr>
<%
foreach(var item in items)
{
%>
<tr>
<%
foreach(var property in properties)
{
%>
<td>
<%= Html.Display(property.DisplayName) %>
// This doesn't work!
</td>
<%
}
%>
</tr>
<%
}
%>
</table>
Two problems with this:
I'd like it to be generic. So, I'd like to replace var items = (IQueryable<TestProj.ViewModels.TestViewModel>)Model; with var items = (IQueryable<T>)Model; or something to that effect.
The <td> elements are not working because the Html in <%= Html.Display(property.DisplayName) %> contains the model for the view, which is a collection of items, not the item itself. Somehow, I need to obtain an HtmlHelper object whose Model property is the current item, but I'm not sure how to do that.
How do I solve these two problems?
