MVC Object(x) does not contain a definition for blah - asp.net-mvc

Question

Getting an error on the view, at the displaynamefor softwareid line, saying the model SoftwareDTO does not contain a definition for softwareid. I can see it right there in the model.
Model:
public class SoftwareDTO
{
public int SoftwareId { get; set; }
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
}
Controller:
public ActionResult Index()
{
List<SoftwareDTO> softwareList = new List<SoftwareDTO>();
var data = _db.Software.ToList();
foreach (var sw in data)
{
SoftwareDTO software = new SoftwareDTO()
{
SoftwareId = sw.SoftwareId,
Name = sw.Name,
Description = sw.Description
};
softwareList.Add(software);
};
return View(softwareList);
}
View:
#model List<Request.Models.SoftwareDTO>
<table class="table">
<tr>
<th>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.SoftwareId)
</th>
<th>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Name)
</th>
<th>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Description)
</th>
<th></th>
</tr>
#foreach (var item in Model) {
<tr>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.SoftwareId)
</td>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Name)
</td>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Description)
</td>

Answer 1

its because model its a list not an object SoftwareDTO in your razor view
I think you are missing the foreach

Answer 2

SoftwareId is a property of SoftwareDTO class. Your view is strongly typed to a collection of SoftwareDTO objects. So you need to loop through the model(The collection of SoftwareDTO) and access the SoftwareId of each item.
#model List<Request.Models.SoftwareDTO>
<table class="table">
#foreach(var item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(x=> item.SoftwareId)
</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
EDIT : As per the edit in the question, and the comments provided.
Looks like you want to print the display name of the propertes in your table headers. If you do not wish to change the data you are passing from your action method, you can try this
#if (Model.Any())
{
<table class="table">
<tr>
<th>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(x => Model[0].SoftwareId)
</th>
</tr>
#foreach (var item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(x => item.SoftwareId)
</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
}
This is using the first item in the collection and it's properties to use with DisplayNameFor method. Since i have a if condition to check for at least one item before rendering the table, It will not even render the table if your Model has 0 items.
If you want to show the empty table with headers, you have 2 options.
Write HTML markup for the table header
<table class="table">
<tr>
<th>
<label>Software Id</label>
</th>
</tr>
#foreach (var item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(x => item.SoftwareId)
</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
Or if you still want to use the DisplayNameFor helper method to render the table header labels,
Create a new viewmodel
public class TableListVm
{
public List<SoftwareDTO> Items {set;get;}
public SoftwareDto ItemMeta {set;get;}
public TableListVm()
{
ItemMeta= new SoftwareDto();
}
}
And in your GET action, Send this object to your view
public ActionResult Index()
{
var data = _db.Software.ToList().Select(sw=> new SoftwareDTO {
SoftwareId = sw.SoftwareId,
Name = sw.Name,
Description = sw.Description
}).ToList();
var vm= new TableListVm { Items = data };
return View(vm);
}
And in your view which is strongly typed to this new view model.
#model TableListVm
<table class="table">
<tr>
<th>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(x => Model.ItemMeta.SoftwareId)
</th>
</tr>
#foreach (var item in Model.Items)
{
<tr>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(x => item.SoftwareId)
</td>
</tr>
}
</table>