Passing multiple models into view MVC - asp.net-mvc

Question

Relatively new to MVC and can't figure out how to pass data from multiple models into a single view. I know I need to use a view model, but I can't figure out what to do in the controller.
Models:
public class Child
{
[Key, DatabaseGenerated(DatabaseGeneratedOption.None)]
public int ChartNumber { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "First Name")]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Last Name")]
public string LastName { get; set; }
public string City { get; set; }
public string State { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Zip Code")]
public int ZipCode { get; set; }
public string Ethnicity { get; set; }
public string Referral { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Recommended Re-evaluation")]
public bool ReEval { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Hearing Aid Candidate")]
public bool HaCandidate { get; set; }
[Display(Name = "Fit With Hearing Aid")]
public bool FitHa { get; set; }
public virtual List<ChildEval> ChildEvals { get; set; }
}
public class ChildEval
{
[Key]
public int ChildEvalId { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
public int PtaRight { get; set; }
public int PtaLeft { get; set; }
public int UnaidedSiiRight { get; set; }
public int UnaidedSiiLeft { get; set; }
public int AidedSiiRight { get; set; }
public int AidedSiiLeft { get; set; }
public int ChartNumber { get; set; }
public virtual Child Child { get; set; }
}
}
DbContext
public class UnitedContext : DbContext
{
public UnitedContext() : base("name=UnitedContext")
{
}
public System.Data.Entity.DbSet<United.Models.Child> Children { get; set; }
public System.Data.Entity.DbSet<United.Models.ChildEval> ChildEvals { get; set; }
}
ViewModel:
public class ChildViewModel
{
public class Child
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
}
public class ChildEval
{
public int PtaRight { get; set; }
}
}
ViewModelController? :
public class ViewModelController : Controller
{
//
// GET: /ViewModel/
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
}
}
I'm stuck on how to create the controller for the viewmodel and how to actually get the data into the view. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Don't have a controller called ViewModelController. Controller is the handler between database and the view. Therefore the name of the controller should tell the programmer what kind of data the controller is controlling. By default, it also indicates the subsite you are in your web application ( ViewModelController would yield http://mysite/ViewModel/ ).
Since you are handling children, I'm calling it ChildrenController for now.
Generally a good idea is to wrap your 2 models into one viewmodel and work with that. In this case Model != ViewModel, model is the database model of the entity while ViewModel is the one that's passed to/from the view.
public class Child
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
}
public class SomeOtherModel
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public int SomeInteger { get; set; }
public int SomeOtherInteger { get; set; }
}
public class ChildViewModel
{
public Child Child { get; set; }
public SomeOtherModel SomeOtherModel { get; set; }
public ChildViewModel(Child child, SomeOtherModel s)
{
Child = child;
SomeOtherModel = s;
}
}
In your controller
public class ChildrenController : Controller
{
//
// GET: /Children/
public ActionResult Index()
{
Child child = /*Fetch the child from database*/;
SomeOtherModel someOther = = /*Fetch something else from database*/;
ChildViewModel model = new ChildViewModel(child,someOther);
return View(model);
}
}
View:
#model ChildViewModel
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Child.FirstName)
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Child.LastName)