Best way to populate a base viewmodel

Question

I know there are two ways to populate a base modelview:

First way, using OnActionExecuted method:

public abstract class BaseController : Controller
{
    protected override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
    {
        base.OnActionExecuted(filterContext);

        var result = filterContext.Result as ViewResultBase;
        if (result != null)
        {
            var model = filterContext.Controller.ViewData.Model as BaseViewModel;

            if (model != null)
            {
                model.CurrentUser = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies["CurrentUser"].Value;
            }
        }
    }

Second way, property get accessor:

public abstract class BaseViewModel
{
    public string CurrentUser
    {
        get
        {
            return HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies["CurrentUser"].Value;
        }
    }
}

Which way is better? any pros/cons I'm missing?

Answer 1

I'd do it the second way, as it'd be a little more clearer as to what the model value of CurrentUser is, without having to go poking around in the controllers.