Polymorphic MVC Views

Question

So I am making a registration page in ASP.NET MVC and theres a list of fields which changes depending on a number of conditions (taken from a database).

What would be considered the best approach for displaying these fields on a view without code changes each time the DB is updated.

The current system I am thinking about is making a Dictionary with "Name, DataType" then just iterating through the list and putting a new input type of each name (using a switch for data type to get the correct editor). But it seems like a old fashioned and not fully utilizing the benefits of the .NET MVC system (such as validation, default values, customized editors for specific content).

Is there a approach I may possibly be not aware of in .NET to handle this problem?

Answer 1

I had very similar problem. Posting is here.

No, there is no polymorphism views in ASP.NET MVC. At least I couldn't make it work doing tons and tons of experimentation and asking this question several times in different ways on Stack Overflow.

The type of @model defined in the view will define its type inside the view, rather than actual type of the model (in case it was interface or abstract class or base class, while you passing in child class with all your beautiful decorations, which won't work, since type is defined by model type).

Sorry, no positive answer to your question. I ended up writing bunch of editor templates, which were only different by model type inside. Huge DRY violation, but this is the way ASP MVC worked, unfortunately.

Hope this helps saving you some time.