Difference between @model.Name and @Html.DisplayFor(m => model.Name)

Question

I'm working on web-application, it's my first time using asp.net mvc core 2.0. I'm Learning from any tutorials, but everywhere different approaches with model print, I can't understand why there a lot of way for just print.

What is the difference between the two approaches:

<td>
   @item.Name
</td> 
<td>
   @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Name)
</td>

And which one is better?

Answer 1

If you have a custom display template for any given data type, using @Html.DisplayFor() will respect that custom display template and render your code as you wished.

Using @Model.YourField directly will just simply call .ToString() on that field and output whatever that call returns.

Try this:

Models/IndexModel.cs:

public class IndexModel
{
    public DateTime HireDate { get; set; }
}

Controller/HomeController.cs:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    IndexModel model = new IndexModel {HireDate = new DateTime(2015, 8, 15)};
    return View(model);
}

Views/Home/Index.cshtml:

<div class="row">
    <div class="col-md-6 col-md-offset-2">
        Output directly: @Model.HireDate
        <br/><br/>
        Output via DisplayFor: @Html.DisplayFor(m => m.HireDate)
    </div>
</div>

And finally the custom display template:

Views/DisplayTemplates/DateTime.cshtml:

@{
    <span class="datetime">@Model.ToString("MMM dd, yyyy / HH:mm")</span>
}

Your output will now be:

Output directly: 15.08.2015 00:00:00            // Output from Model.HireDate.ToString();

Output via DisplayFor: Aug 15, 2015 . 00:00     // Output as defined in your custom display template

Which one is better now really depends on what you want to do:

• typically, I'd prefer to use @Html.DisplayFor(), since normally, if I went through the trouble of defining a custom display template, I probably want to use that, too

• but if you just need the "raw" output, without custom rendering, you can always also use @model.YourField directly

So it's really a question of what you want / need - pick the one most suited to your needs / requirements!