how to convert formcollection to model in mvc - asp.net-mvc

Question

Is it possible to convert formcollection to a 'model' known?
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Settings(FormCollection fc)
{
var model=(Student)fc; // Error: Can't convert type 'FormCollection' to 'Student'
}
NOTE : for some reasons i can't use ViewModel instead.
Here is my code VIEW: Settings.cshtml
#model MediaLibrarySetting
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Library Settings";
var extensions = (IQueryable<MediaLibrarySetting>)(ViewBag.Data);
}
#helper EntriForm(MediaLibrarySetting cmodel)
{
<form action='#Url.Action("Settings", "MediaLibrary")' id='MLS-#cmodel.MediaLibrarySettingID' method='post' style='min-width:170px' class="smart-form">
#Html.HiddenFor(model => cmodel.MediaLibrarySettingID)
<div class='input'>
<label>
New File Extension:#Html.TextBoxFor(model => cmodel.Extention, new { #class = "form-control style-0" })
</label>
<small>#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => cmodel.Extention)</small>
</div>
<div>
<label class='checkbox'>
#Html.CheckBoxFor(model => cmodel.AllowUpload, new { #class = "style-0" })<i></i>
<span>Allow Upload.</span></label>
</div>
<div class='form-actions'>
<div class='row'>
<div class='col col-md-12'>
<button class='btn btn-primary btn-sm' type='submit'>SUBMIT</button>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</form>
}
<tbody>
#foreach (var item in extensions)
{
if (item != null)
{
<tr>
<td>
<label class="checkbox">
<input type="checkbox" value="#item.MediaLibrarySettingID"/><i></i>
</label>
</td>
<td>
<a href="javascript:void(0);" rel="popover" class="editable-click"
data-placement="right"
data-original-title="<i class='fa fa-fw fa-pencil'></i> File Extension"
data-content="#EntriForm(item).ToString().Replace("\"", "'")"
data-html="true">#item.Extention</a></td>
</tr>
}
}
</tbody>
CONTROLLER:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Settings(FormCollection fc)//MediaLibrarySetting cmodel - Works fine for cmodel
{
var model =(MediaLibrarySetting)(fc);// Error: Can't convert type 'FormCollection' to 'MediaLibrarySetting'
}
data-content and data- attributes are bootstrap popover.

Answer 1

Another approach in MVC is to use TryUpdateModel.
Example:
TryUpdateModel or UpdateModel will read from the posted form collection and attempt to map it to your type. I find this more elegant than manually mapping the fields by hand.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Settings()
{
var model = new Student();
UpdateModel<Student>(model);
return View(model);
}

Answer 2

Nice question!
Had same in the quest of making a universal base controller, model independent. Thanks to many people, the last one was #GANI, it's done.
Type ViewModelType is set in subclassed controller to anything you want.
public ActionResult EatEverything(FormCollection form)
{
var model = Activator.CreateInstance(ViewModelType);
Type modelType = model.GetType();
foreach (PropertyInfo propertyInfo in modelType.GetProperties())
{
var mykey = propertyInfo.Name;
if (propertyInfo.CanRead && form.AllKeys.Contains(mykey))
{
try
{
var value = form[mykey];
propertyInfo.SetValue(model, value);
}
catch
{
continue;
}
}
}
now that everything you received from an unknown form is in your real model you can proceed to validation from this post https://stackoverflow.com/a/22051586/7149454

Answer 3

You can try this way
public ActionResult Settings(FormCollection formValues)
{
var student= new Student();
student.Name = formValues["Name"];
student.Surname = formValues["Surname"];
student.CellNumber = formValues["CellNumber"];
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}

Answer 4

maybe it's too late, but maybe it will be useful for someone )
https://www.nuget.org/packages/tidago.apofc
Auto converter formcollection to object.
TestReadonlyModel resultObject = new TestReadonlyModel();
new ObjectPopulator().Populate(HttpContext.Request.Form, resultObject);