.net MVC passing linq data from controller to view

Question

I am trying to pass data from controller to view. I have searched the web but could not find a solution.

if I do this it works:

Controller:

var yyy = (from a in Connection.Db.Authorities select a) ;
ViewBag.data = yyy;

View:

@foreach(var item in ViewBag.data)
{
    @item.Value
}

But the following code does not work:

Controller:

var yyy = (from a in Connection.Db.Authorities select new {Value = a.Value, TypeCode = a.TypeCode, Return = Calculate(a.Return)}) ;
ViewBag.data = yyy;

View:

@foreach(var item in ViewBag.data)
{
    @item.Value
}

It gives "item does not contain a definition for Value" for the view file.

Any help would be great.

Thank you.

-edited: updated the second controller linq query. and corrected the first controller linq query.

Answer 1

It's because You already select Value and Value has no such property as Value. You should change in controller:

var yyy = (from a in Connection.Db.Authorities select a.Value); to

var yyy = (from a in Connection.Db.Authorities select a);

OR change the view to

@foreach(var item in ViewBag.data)
{
    @item
}

//////////////////////////////////////////////// EDITS ////////////////////////////////////////////////
Than You should not use anonymous object. You should create ViewModelClass. For Example:

public class AuthoritiesViewModel
        {
            public string Value { get; set; }
            public string TypeCode { get; set; }
            public string Return { get; set; }
        }

And change your controller:

var yyy = (from a in Connection.Db.Authorities select new AuthoritiesViewModel{ Value = a.Value, TypeCode = a.TypeCode, Return = Calculate(a.Return)});
ViewBag.data = yyy;

and in your view you will be able to use:

<table>
    <tr>
         <th>Value</th>
         <th>TypeCode</th>
         <th>Return</th>
    </tr>
@foreach(AuthoritiesViewModel item in ViewBag.data)
{
    <tr>
         <td>@item.Value<td>
         <td>@item.TypeCode<td>
         <td>@item.Return<td>
    </tr>
}
</table>

Also, I have a question to You. Why do You use ViewBag to pass data from controller to view? Why don't You use Model to pass these data to view according to MVC pattern?

//////////////////////////////////////////////// MORE EDITS ////////////////////////////////////////////////
To send more than one query result You can create more complex model. For example:

public class AuthoritiesViewModel
        {
            public string Value { get; set; }
            public string TypeCode { get; set; }
            public string Return { get; set; }
        }

        public class AnotherQueryViewModel
        {
            public string AnotherQueryValue { get; set; }
            public string AnotherQueryTypeCode { get; set; }
            public string AnotherQueryReturn { get; set; }
        }

        public class ModelClass
        {
            IEnumerable<AuthoritiesViewModel> Authorities { get; set; }
            IEnumerable<AnotherQueryViewModel> AnotherQueryResults { get; set; }
        }

And change the controller:

var yyy = (from a in Connection.Db.Authorities select new AuthoritiesViewModel{ Value = a.Value, TypeCode = a.TypeCode, Return = Calculate(a.Return)});

// do your another select
var zzz = (from smthing select new AnotherQueryViewModel ...)

// create model instance
ModelClass model = new ModelClass() 
{
    Authorities = yyy.AsEnumerable(),
    AnotherQueryResults = zzz..AsEnumerable()
}

// return view with model
return View("view", model);

and in view you can use:

@model ModelClass

@*display first query result*@
<table>
    <tr>
         <th>Value</th>
         <th>TypeCode</th>
         <th>Return</th>
    </tr>
@foreach(AuthoritiesViewModel item in Model.Authorities)
{
    <tr>
         <td>@item.Value<td>
         <td>@item.TypeCode<td>
         <td>@item.Return<td>
    </tr>
}
</table>

@*display second query result*@
<table>
    <tr>
         <th>Another Query Value</th>
         <th>Another Query TypeCode</th>
         <th>Another Query Return</th>
    </tr>
@foreach(AnotherQueryViewModel item in Model.AnotherQueryResults)
{
    <tr>
         <td>@item.AnotherQueryValue<td>
         <td>@item.AnotherQueryTypeCode<td>
         <td>@item.AnotherQueryReturn<td>
    </tr>
}
</table>