We all know that we can pass a model to view to display content in MVC but there are certain scenarios where passing string value as a model seems a problem. In this article I will try to explain how can we pass string as model in a view.

Introduction

MVC stands for Model-View-Controller; and we are very much familier with this. We all know, how these three works together in building a powerful web application. Model usually used as a container which can pass data from Data Layer through Business Layer to a View with the help of Controllers. Passing model to a view is generally very easy and we do this in almost all the methods created in a controller. Then why I am writing this article. The reason is, I faced a problem in my early days of learning while passing a string as a model. Let's see what I am talking about.

Actual Problem

In general practice, we render a view with or without passing any model and inside it we render multiple partial views with models. You will not face any problem while passing model to a partial view because of it's overloads available. You can pass any type of model and it will accept with no problem.

A partial view has four overloads:

protected internal PartialViewResult PartialView();
protected internal PartialViewResult PartialView(object model);
protected internal PartialViewResult PartialView(string viewName);   //It will create confusion between view name and model of string type
protected internal virtual PartialViewResult PartialView(string viewName, object model);

Even you will not face any trouble when passing a model to a View because view can handle this request by its overloads available.

protected internal ViewResult View(object model);

or

protected internal ViewResult View(string viewName, object model);

And the reason behind this is that it will conflict with its overload. Actually it is assuming string value as view name or master name and not a model.

protected internal PartialViewResult View(string viewName);

protected internal PartialViewResult PartialView(string viewName);

or

protected internal ViewResult View(string viewName, string masterName);

What is the solution?

To overcome this problem, let's see what alternates we can use. View have nearly eight overload methods for different purposes.

View's overloads:

protected internal ViewResult View();
protected internal ViewResult View(IView view);
protected internal ViewResult View(object model);
protected internal ViewResult View(string viewName);
protected internal virtual ViewResult View(IView view, object model);
protected internal ViewResult View(string viewName, object model);
protected internal ViewResult View(string viewName, string masterName);
protected internal virtual ViewResult View(string viewName, string masterName, object model);

To pass string value as a model you can use below overload

protected internal virtual ViewResult View(string viewName, string masterName, object model);

You can also directly use model: keyword with your model to achieve this. Let see these with an example.

 /// <summary>
        /// Using View(object model) overload
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public ViewResult Info()
        {
            return View(model:"testing sending string as model");
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Using View(string viewName, object model) overload
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public ViewResult CallInfo()
        {
            return View("Info", model: "testing sending string as model");
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Using View(string viewName, string masterName, object model) overload
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns></returns>
        public ViewResult CallInfo()
        {
            return View("Info",null,"testing sending string as model");
        }

You can use any overload method of View as per your convenience and will get result.  Hope this can help you. Use it in your code and try.