MVC Using Domain Models in View Models

Question

Is the following OK to do? I know Domain Models should never be used in views but is it ok to use Domain Models in your View Models? For some very small models it doesn't seem worth it to be creating and managing a View Model for them.

For Example

public class LoginDomainModel
{
    public string Email { get; set; }
    public string Password { get; set; }
    public string DisplayName { get; set; }
    public long UserTypeID { get; set; }      
    public virtual UserType UserType { get; set; } 
}
public class UserTypeDomainModel
{
    public UserType()
    {
        this.Logins = new List<Login>();
    }
    public long UserTypeID { get; set; }
    public string UserType { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
    public virtual ICollection<Login> Logins { get; set; }
}

public class LoginViewModel
{
    public string Email { get; set; }
    public long UserTypeID {get; set;}

    //Right here
    public List<UserTypeDomainModel> UserTypesSelectList {get; set;}
}

Answer 1

Personally I use domain models in the view if they would naturally be an exact fit. That is likely to happen only on trivial projects that are CRUD in nature (editing the domain entities in a straightforward way). I find it a waste of time to create an exact copy of a domain entity for the sake of purity.

I will never modify a domain model in the slightest to account for needs of the view. In 95%+ of my projects, this is the circumstance I find myself in. The moment you pollute the domain for the sake of the view, you introduce maintainability headaches.