HTML Textbox showing default value as 0 for int data field

Question

I have a textbox which is holds int data field. When the page loads, 0 appears by default. Following is the code for displaying text box :

<%:Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Ssn, htmlAttributes: new { @class = "txtBox txtBoxMediumSmall" })%>

where model.Ssn is a int.
Why isn't is blank? And what should be done to make it blank?
Please let me know if more information is required.

Answer 1

You can do this

public class MyModel
{
   //Nullable integer
   public int? Ssn {get; set;}  //this should be null by default

   public int SSN {get; set; } //this should be 0 by default

}

Answer 2

As bittech poinetd out int is struct and does not have "empty" value - 0 is default, but perfectly valid value.

You can try to use int? (Nullable<int>) if you need to destinguish "no value" vs. "default value".