MVC 3 accept null foreach in the viewModel - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have a page where users can enter their state information and then a list of other users come back within the state. I am using a foreach loop.
Some of the states have 0 users, which then leads me to get an error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. How can I get past that error? The particular model I'm using is called Profiles.
The Model:
public class homepage
{
public List<profile> profile { get; set; }
public PagedList.IPagedList<Article> article { get; set; }
}
The Controller:
public ActionResult Index()
{
HttpCookie mypreference = Request.Cookies["cook"];
if (mypreference == null)
{
ViewData["mypreference"] = "Enter your zipcode above to get more detailed information";
var tyi = (from s in db.profiles.OrderByDescending(s => s.profileID).Take(5) select s).ToList();
}
else
{
ViewData["mypreference"] = mypreference["name"];
string se = (string)ViewData["mypreference"];
var tyi = (from s in db.profiles.OrderByDescending(s => s.profileID).Take(5) where se==s.state select s).ToList();
}
return View();
}
The View:
#if (Model.profile != null)
{
foreach (var item in Model.profile)
{
#item.city
}
}
When I get the Object reference not set to an instance of an object error, the line #if (Model.profile != null) is highlighted, so I tried to do this:
public List<profile>? profile { get; set; }
But it didn't work. Any ideas of how to accept an empty Model in a foreach or just skip the code at runtime?

Answer 1

Profile is a list. See if the list has any elements.
See if this works:
#if (Model.profile.Any())
{
foreach (var item in Model.profile)
{
#item.city
}
}

Answer 2

Just noticed, you're calling View() but not passing it a model, then in the view you're referencing Model.profile. Inevitably Model is null, and therefore has no profile property to access. Make sure you're passing the model off to the view in the return View(model) call.
Follow-up for collections
I've always found that any time you have variable that implements IEnumerable<T>, it's best to populate it with an empty set over a null value. That is to say:
// no-nos (IMHO)
IEnumerable<String> names = null; // this will break most kinds of
// access reliant on names being populated
// e.g. LINQ extensions
// better options:
IEnumerable<String> names = new String[0];
IEnumerable<String> names = Enumerable.Empty<String>();
IEnumerable<String> names = new List<String>();
Unless you like checking if (variable != null && variables.Count() > 0) every time you want to access it, make it an empty collection and leave it at that.
To come full-circle, as long as the variable is populated with a collection of some sort (empty or populated) a foreach shouldn't break. it will simply skip past the code block and not output anything. If you're getting an object null error, it's most likely because the variable is empty and the enumerator could not be retrieved.