String as a Model - asp.net-mvc

Question

I thought this should have been an easier task :
Edit:
It seems till this day Asp.Net MVC couldn't provide a neat solution on this case:
If you want to pass a simple string as a model and you don't have to define more classes and stuff to do so...
Any ideas ??
Pass simple string as a model
here I'm trying to have a simple string model.
I'm getting this error :
"Value cannot be null or empty" / "Parameter name: name"
The View :
#model string
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<span>Please Enter the code</span>
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m) // Error Happens here
<button id="btnSubmit" title="Submit"></button>
}
The Controller :
public string CodeText { get; set; }
public HomeController()
{
CodeText = "Please Enter MHM";
}
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View("Index", null, CodeText);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(string code)
{
bool result = false;
if (code == "MHM")
result = true;
return View();
}

Answer 1

There's a much cleaner way of passing a string as a model into your view. You just need to use named parameters when returning your view:
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Index()
{
string myStringModel = "I am passing this string as a model in the view";
return View(model:myStringModel);
}

Answer 2

I know you've already accepted an answer here - I'm adding this because there's a general gotcha associated with using a string model.
String as a model type in MVC is a nightmare, because if you do this in a controller:
string myStringModel = "Hello world";
return View("action", myStringModel);
It ends up choosing the wrong overload, and passing the myStringModel as a master name to the view engine.
In general it is easier simply to wrap it in a proper model type, as the accepted answer describes, but you can also simply force the compiler to choose the correct overload of View() by casting the string to object:
return View("action", (object)myStringModel);
The other issue you're having here of using TextBoxFor having issues with an 'unnamed' model - well you shouldn't be surprised by that... The only reason to use TextBoxFor is to ensure the fields are named correctly for binding when the underlying value is a property on a model type. In this case there is no name, because you're passing it as a top-level model type for a view - so you it could be argued that you shouldn't be using TextBoxFor() in the first place.

Answer 3

Either wrap the string in a view model object:
Model:
public class HomeViewModel
{
public string CodeText { get; set; }
}
Controller:
private HomeViewModel _model;
public HomeController()
{
_model = new HomeViewModel { CodeText = "My Text" };
}
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View("Index", _model);
}
View:
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.CodeText);
Or use EditorForModel:
#Html.EditorForModel()

Answer 4

You can simply use an overload of View() method.
View(string ViewName, object model)
in action method, call View with that signature.
return View("MyView", myString);
in view(.cshtml), define the model type as string
#model string
Then, #Model will return the string (myString).