How should I use EditorFor() in MVC for a currency/money type?

Question

In my view I have the following call.

<%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Cost) %>

I have a ViewModel with the following code to define Cost

Answer 1

This is the appropriate way if you are using EditorFor templates.

What does "inordinately inelegant" mean?

Answer 2

[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:F2}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public decimal Cost { get; set; }

and in your view:

<%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Cost) %>

and that's all.

You will probably want to apply a custom CSS class. You could do this:

<div class="currency">
    <%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Cost) %>
</div>

and then have in your css:

.currency input {
    /** some CSS rules **/
}

or write a custom DataAnnotationsModelMetadataProvider which will allow you to:

[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:F2}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
[HtmlProperties(CssClass = "currency")]
public decimal Cost { get; set; }

and then in your view:

<%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Cost) %>