How to fetch one row from db in asp mvc - asp.net-mvc

Question

ASP.net mvc in new for me, for some time I used php (no mvc), but now i'm interested, how I can fetch one row from db? without foreach, for example in title...
here is some code:
controller
public ActionResult Index()
{
var pages = (from page in db.Pages where page.PageName == "index" select page).ToList();
return View(pages);
}
view:
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
<% foreach (var item in Model)
{ %>
<%= Html.Encode(item.Text) %>
<% }
%>
</asp:Content>

Answer 1

In your controller, instead of .ToList() you can use the .FirstOrDefault() method, this will return only the first row from the database.
Then in your view you won't need the foreach.
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
<%= Html.Encode(item.Model.Text) %>
</asp:Content>

Answer 2

What you're doing there is creating a List datatype variable and passing it in as the Model to your view. Assuming this is the only piece of data your page needs. Here's what you would do;
public ActionResult Index()
{
string page = db.pages.where(p => p.PageName == "index").FirstOrDefault().PageName;
return View(page);
}
There in your page, Model will now be that single string value and you can do this;
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
<%= Model %>
</asp:Content>
Although it is best practice to create a ViewModel for the page with the just the properties your page will need and pass that in as the Model.
public class MypageViewModel
{
public string PageName { get; set; }
}
Then do this in the controller
public ActionResult Index()
{
MypageViewModel MyModel = new MypageViewModel();
MyModel.PageName = db.pages.where(p => p.PageName == "index").FirstOrDefault().PageName;
return View(MypageViewModel);
}
Hope that helps.

Answer 3

If you are using Entity Framework:
var singleItem = db.pages.Find(id);
This will use the Primary Key of your entity.
If you have a composite primary key consisting of multiple properties, Find will still work (because it can take multiple values):
var singleItem = db.pages.Find(key1, key2);