How to assign multiple models to a single view? - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have a list of cities and a list of countries and both of them I want to have on the view (aspx) file. I'm trying something like this but it's not working:
namespace World.Controllers {
public class WorldController : Controller {
public ActionResult Index() {
List<Country> countryList = new List<Country>();
List<City> cityList = new List<City>();
this.ViewData["CountryList"] = countryList;
this.ViewData["CityList"] = cityList;
this.ViewData["Title"] = "World Contest!";
return this.View();
}
}
}
<table>
<% foreach (Country country in this.ViewData.Model as IEnumerable) { %>
<tr>
<td><%= country.Code %></td>
</tr>
<% } %>
</table>

Answer 1

You need to get the view data you've set by name. I.E.
<table>
<% foreach (Country country in (List<Country>)this.ViewData["CountryList"]) { %>
<tr>
<td><%= country.Code %></td>
</tr>
<% } %>
</table>
But that's not ideal, because it's not strongly typed. What I would suggest is creating a model specific to your view.
public class WorldModel
{
public List<Country> Countries { get; set; }
public List<City> Cities { get; set; }
}
And then creating your view strongly typed as a WorldModel view. Then in your action:
List<Country> countryList = new List<Country>();
List<City> cityList = new List<City>();
WorldModel modelObj = new WorldModel();
modelObj.Cities = cityList;
modelObj.Countries = countryList;
this.ViewData["Title"] = "World Contest!";
return this.View(modelObj);
Just make sure that your view is strongly typed:
public partial class Index : ViewPage<WorldModel>
And you'll be able to do it this way:
<table>
<% foreach (Country country in ViewData.Model.Countries) { %>
<tr>
<td><%= country.Code %></td>
</tr>
<% } %>
</table>