MVC design question - asp.net-mvc

Question

I'm building a questionnaire. The questionnaire have multiple sections, each section has multiple questions, and each question can have one to many answers. Each question can be a different type (radio buttons, checkbox, text...).
I put my tables in the model and loop through the sections table to display sections, loop through questions to display questions, loop through answerOptions to populate answers:
<fieldset>
<legend>Fields</legend>
<%foreach (var s in Model.Sections)
{ %>
<h3><%=s.SCTN_TXT %></h3>
<% var QuestsInSect = Model.GetQuestionsBySectionID(s.SCTN_ID);%>
<%foreach (var q in QuestsInSect){%>
<h4><%=q.QSTN_TXT %><%=q.QSTN_ID.ToString() %></h4>
<% var answers = Model.GetAnswerOptionByQuestionID(q.QSTN_ID); %>
<%if (q.QSTN_TYP_ID>= 3)
{%>
<%:Html.TextBox(q.QSTN_ID.ToString())%>
<%}
else if (q.QSTN_TYP_ID == 1)
{ %>
<%var answerOptions = Model.GetDropDownListAnswerOptionByQuestionID(q.QSTN_ID);%>
<%:Html.DropDownList(q.QSTN_ID.ToString(), answerOptions)%>
<%}
else
{ %>
<% foreach (var ao in answers)
{ %>
<br />
<%:Html.CheckBox(q.QSTN_ID.ToString())%>
<%=ao.ANS_VAL%>
<% }
}
}
} %>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Create" />
</p>
</fieldset>
In my controller I loop through collection.Allkeys to figure out the answer for each question:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(FormCollection collection)
{
try
{
// TODO: Add insert logic here
List<ASSMNT_RESP> arList = new List<ASSMNT_RESP>();
foreach (string key in collection.AllKeys)
{
QSTN q = _model.GetQuestionByQuestionID(int.Parse(key));
IEnumerable<ANS_OPTN> aos = _model.GetAnswerOptionByQuestionID(int.Parse(key));
ASSMNT_RESP ar = new ASSMNT_RESP();
ar.QSTN_ID = int.Parse(key);
ar.ASSMNT_ID = 1;
if (q.QSTN_TYP_ID == 1)//dropdown
{
//do something
}
else if (q.QSTN_TYP_ID == 2)//checkboxlist
{
//do something
}
else
{
//do something
}
//_model.AddAssessmentResponse(ar);
System.Diagnostics.Trace.WriteLine(key + "---"+ collection[key]);
}
//_model.Save();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
catch
{
return View();
}
}
It works, but I just don't think it's a very good design. It seems like I have too much logic in the view. I would like to move the logic in the view and controller to the model. Can you recommend an easier/cleaner way to do this?
Thanks.

Answer 1

I'm not an expert on MVC, but I think you'd get a lot of benefit out of using a strongly-typed view based on a custom model class that you build. The properties exposed by such a model can be nested (i.e., the top-level model can consist of properties each of which are also custom classes). Conceptually, something like:
public class MyTopLevelModel
{
public MySubModel1 SubModel1 { get; set; }
public MySubModel2 SubModel2 { get; set; }
}
public class MySubModel1
{
public string AProperty { get; set; }
public int AnotherProperty { get; set; }
}
You can include collections in the class definitions, too. And then you can decorate the individual properties with with attributes specifying whether a particular property is required, a range of permissible values, etc.
It's a big subject, though, and this only scratches the surface. FWIW, I've gotten a LOT out of Steven Sanderson's Pro ASP.NET MVC2 Framework book.

Answer 2

Make your viewmodel more explicit.
public class ViewModel
{
public IList<SectionViewModel> Sections {get;set;}
}
public class SectionViewModel
{
public IList<QuestionViewModel> Questions {get;set;}
}
public class QuestionViewModel
{
public IList<AnswerViewModel> Answers {get;set;}
}
In your view you can then do something like this (I'm using razor):
#foreach(var section in Model.Sections)
{
<h3>#section.Name</h3>
foreach(var question in section.Questions)
{
<h4>#question.Name</h4>
foreach(var question in section.Questions)
{
#Html.EditorFor(x=> question.Answers)
}
}
}
Then create an EditorTemplate for your AnswerViewModel.