ASP.NET MVC: Hidden field value does not get rendered using HtmlHelper.Hidden

Question

Something pretty weird is happening with my app:

I have the following property in my ViewModel:

public int? StakeholderId { get; set; }

Answer 1

ADDENDUM: Multiple HTML Forms, eg, in a Grid

As an addendeum to this issue, one thing to be VERY careful of is with multiple forms on the same page, eg, in a grid, say one generated using Ajax.BeginForm.

You might be tempted to write something along the lines of:

@foreach (var username in Model.TutorUserNames)
        {
            <tr>
                <td>
                    @Html.ActionLink(username, MVC.Admin.TutorEditor.Details(username))
                </td>
                <td>
                    @using (Ajax.BeginForm("DeleteTutor", "Members",
                        new AjaxOptions
                        {
                            UpdateTargetId = "AdminBlock",
                            OnBegin = "isValidPleaseWait",
                            LoadingElementId = "PleaseWait"
                        },
                        new { name = "DeleteTutorForm", id = "DeleteTutorForm" }))
                    {    
                        <input type="submit" value="Delete" />
                        @Html.Hidden("TutorName", username)
                    }
                </td>
            </tr>
        }

The lethal line in here is:

@Html.Hidden("TutorName", username)

... and intend to use TutorName as your action's parameter. EG:

public virtual ActionResult DeleteTutor(string TutorName){...}

If you do this, the nasty surprise you are in for is that Html.Hidden("TutorName", username) will, as Darin Dimitrov explains, render the last POSTed value. Ie, regardless of your loop, ALL the items will be rendered with the TutorName of the last deleted Tutor!

The word around, in Razor syntax is to replace the @Html.Hidden call with an explicit input tag:

<input type="hidden" id="TutorName" name="TutorName" value='@username' />

This works as expected.

Ie:

NEVER, EVER USE Html.Hidden TO PASS A PARAMETER BACK TO YOUR ACTIONS WHEN YOU ARE USING MULTIPLE FORMS IN A GRID!!!

Final Caveat:

When constructing your hidden input tag, you need to include both name and id, set to the same value, otherwise, at the time of writing (Feb 2011) it won't work properly. Certainly not in Google Chrome. All you get is a null parameter returned if you only have an id and no name attribute.

Answer 2

The helper will first look for POSTed values and use them. As you are posting the form it will pick up the old value of the ID. Your workaround is correct.