ASP.NET MVC 3 HtmlHelper Exception does not recognize ModelMetadata on inherited interface

Question

After upgrading to MVC 3 RTM I get an exception where it previously worked.

Here is the scenario. I have several objects that use the same underlying interfaces IActivity and IOwned.

IActivity implements IOwned (another interface)

public interface IActivity:IOwned {...}

public interface IOwned 
{
    int? AuthorId {get;set;}
}

I have a partial view that uses IActivity for reuse from other concrete partials.

Here is the definition of the Activity Partial.

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<IActivity>" %>
<%: Html.HiddenFor(item => item.AuthorId) %>

However, it throws an exception. It can not find AuthorId in the ModelMetadata.

I am guessing that in the previous version it looked at the interfaces IActivity implemented.

Any ideas, suggestions, short of duplicating similar interfaces everywhere?

Copied the stack trace below.

[ArgumentException: The property IActivity.AuthorId could not be found.]
   System.Web.Mvc.AssociatedMetadataProvider.GetMetadataForProperty(Func`1 modelAccessor, Type containerType, String propertyName) +498313
   System.Web.Mvc.ModelMetadata.GetMetadataFromProvider(Func`1 modelAccessor, Type modelType, String propertyName, Type containerType) +101
   System.Web.Mvc.ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(Expression`1 expression, ViewDataDictionary`1 viewData) +393
   System.Web.Mvc.Html.InputExtensions.HiddenFor(HtmlHelper`1 htmlHelper, Expression`1 expression, IDictionary`2 htmlAttributes) +57
   System.Web.Mvc.Html.InputExtensions.HiddenFor(HtmlHelper`1 htmlHelper, Expression`1 expression) +51
   ASP.views_shared_activity_ascx.__Render__control1(HtmlTextWriter __w, Control parameterContainer) in c:\Users\...\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\ngen\trunk\...\Views\Shared\Activity.ascx:3
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) +109
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +8
   System.Web.UI.Control.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +10
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +100
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +25
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) +208
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) +8
   System.Web.UI.Page.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +29
   System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) +43
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +27
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) +100
   System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) +25
   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +3060

Answer 1

From the MVC team:

Unfortunately, the code was actually exploiting a bug that was fixed, where the container of an expression for ModelMetadata purposes was inadvertently set to the declaring type instead of the containing type. This bug had to be fixed because of the needs of virtual properties and validation/model metadata.

Having interface-based models is not something we encourage (nor, given the limitations imposed by the bug fix, can realistically support). Switching to abstract base classes would fix the issue.