Complex models and partial views - model binding issue in ASP.NET MVC 3

Question

I have 2 models in my sample MVC 3 application, SimpleModel and ComplexModel, shown below:

public class SimpleModel
{
    public st         


        

Answer 1

Instead of:

@Html.Partial("_SimplePartial", Model.Simple)

I would recommend you using Editor templates:

@model ComplexModel
@using (Html.BeginForm()) 
{
    @Html.EditorFor(x => x.Simple)
    <input type="submit" value="Save" />
}

and then put the simple partial inside ~/Views/Shared/EditorTemplates/SimpleModel.cshtml or inside ~/Views/Home/EditorTemplates/SimpleModel.cshtml where Home is the name of your controller:

@model SimpleModel
@Html.LabelFor(model => model.Status)
@Html.EditorFor(model => model.Status)

Of course if you prefer to have the partial in some special location and not follow the conventions (why would you?) you could specify the location:

@Html.EditorFor(x => x.Simple, "~/Views/SomeUnexpectedLocation/_SimplePartial.cshtml")

then everything will come into place as expected.

Answer 2

As Daniel Hall suggests in his blog, pass a ViewDataDictionary with a TemplateInfo where HtmlFieldPrefix is set to the name of the SimpleModel-property:

 @Html.Partial("_SimplePartial", Model.Simple, new ViewDataDictionary(ViewData)
    {
        TemplateInfo = new System.Web.Mvc.TemplateInfo
        {
            HtmlFieldPrefix = "Simple"
        }
    })