Dynamic view model ASP.NET MVC using ExpandoObject

Introduction of Dynamic view model ASP.NET MVC using ExpandoObject

In this "Dynamic view model ASP.NET MVC using ExpandoObject" article I am going to explain about passing dynamic model to our view in mvc. Here I am trying to use "ExpandoObjects". This has been introduced in .NET 4.0 version. An ExpandoObject object helps us to add or remove members dynamically at runtime.

Note: This article is just to give a information on how we can use dynamic models in mvc using ExpandoObject. But I am strictly against this approach as we can handle these stuffs with different approach as well (without using "ExpandoObject", i will discuss those approaches in the coming weeks though).

Now lets dive in to the practical approach of using dynamic view model using ExpandoObject.

Lets create new classes - "Class" and "Student" to demonstrate this -

public class Class
{
 public int ClassID { get; set; }
 public string ClassName { get; set; }
}

public class Student
{
 public int StudentID { get; set; }
 public int ClassID { get; set; }
 public string StudentName { get; set; }
}

So now lets update the existing Homecontroller to use "ExpandoObject". So below is the updated code -

public ActionResult Index()
{
 dynamic mymodelDetails = new ExpandoObject();
 
 List classes = new List()
 {
  new Class() {ClassID =1, ClassName = "Class1"},
  new Class() {ClassID =2, ClassName = "Class2"},
  new Class() {ClassID =3, ClassName = "Class3"}
 };

 List students = new List()
 {
  new Student() {StudentID = 100, ClassID =1, StudentName = "Student1"},
  new Student() {StudentID = 101, ClassID =1, StudentName = "Student2"},
  new Student() {StudentID = 102, ClassID =1, StudentName = "Student3"},
  new Student() {StudentID = 103, ClassID =2, StudentName = "Student4"},
  new Student() {StudentID = 104, ClassID =2, StudentName = "Student5"},
  new Student() {StudentID = 105, ClassID =3, StudentName = "Student6"}
 };

 //mymodelDetails.Classes = new { Classes = classes }.ToExpando();
 //mymodelDetails.Students = new { Students = students }.ToExpando();

 mymodelDetails.Classes = classes;
 mymodelDetails.Students = students;

 return View(mymodelDetails);
}

So as you can see in the above code snippet, data are populated for these classes and two properties "Classes" and "Students" are added to my dynamic expandoobject - "mymodelDetails".

So these "ExpandoObject" properties are used in the existing Index.cshtml as below -

@model dynamic
@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Home Page";
}

Class Details
<table>
 <tr>
  <th>ClassID</th>
  <th>ClassName</th>
 </tr>
 @foreach (PassingDynamicModel.Models.Class c in Model.Classes)
 {
  <tr>
   <td>@c.ClassID</td>
   <td>@c.ClassName</td>
  </tr>
 }
</table>

<br/>
<br />

Student Details
<table>
 <tr>
  <th>StudentID</th>
  <th>StudentName</th>
 </tr>
 @foreach (PassingDynamicModel.Models.Student s in Model.Students)
 {
  <tr>
   <td>@s.StudentID</td>
   <td>@s.StudentName</td>
  </tr>
 }
</table>

After Executing this we get output like below -

Hope this article is useful.