Accessing MVC's model property from Javascript

Question

I have the following model which is wrapped in my view model

public class FloorPlanSettingsModel
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public int? MainFloorPlanId { get; set; }
    public string ImageDirectory { get; set; }
    public string ThumbnailDirectory { get; set; }
    public string IconsDirectory { get; set; }
}

How do I access one of the above properties from Javascript?

I tried this, but I got "undefined"

var floorplanSettings = "@Model.FloorPlanSettings";
alert(floorplanSettings.IconsDirectory);

Answer 1

Contents of the Answer

1) How to access Model data in Javascript/Jquery code block in .cshtml file

2) How to access Model data in Javascript/Jquery code block in .js file

How to access Model data in Javascript/Jquery code block in .cshtml file

There are two types of c# variable (Model) assignments to JavaScript variable.

1. Property assignment - Basic datatypes like int, string, DateTime (ex: Model.Name)
2. Object assignment - Custom or inbuilt classes (ex: Model, Model.UserSettingsObj)

Lets look into the details of these two assignments.

For the rest of the answer lets consider the below AppUser Model as an example.

public class AppUser
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public bool IsAuthenticated { get; set; }
    public DateTime LoginDateTime { get; set; }
    public int Age { get; set; }
    public string UserIconHTML { get; set; }
}

And the values we assign this Model are

AppUser appUser = new AppUser
{
    Name = "Raj",
    IsAuthenticated = true,
    LoginDateTime = DateTime.Now,
    Age = 26,
    UserIconHTML = "<i class='fa fa-users'></i>"
};

Property assignment

Lets use different syntax for assignment and observe the results.

1) Without wrapping property assignment in quotes.

var Name = @Model.Name;  
var Age = @Model.Age;
var LoginTime = @Model.LoginDateTime; 
var IsAuthenticated = @Model.IsAuthenticated;   
var IconHtml = @Model.UserIconHTML;  

As you can see there are couple of errors, Raj and True is considered to be javascript variables and since they dont exist its an variable undefined error. Where as for the dateTime varialble the error is unexpected number numbers cannot have special characters, The HTML tags are converted into its entity names so that the browser doesn't mix up your values and the HTML markup.

2) Wrapping property assignment in Quotes.

var Name = '@Model.Name';
var Age = '@Model.Age';
var LoginTime = '@Model.LoginDateTime';
var IsAuthenticated = '@Model.IsAuthenticated';
var IconHtml = '@Model.UserIconHTML'; 

The results are valid, So wrapping the property assignment in quotes gives us valid syntax. But note that the Number Age is now a string, So if you dont want that we can just remove the quotes and it will be rendered as a number type.

3) Using @Html.Raw but without wrapping it in quotes

 var Name = @Html.Raw(Model.Name);
 var Age = @Html.Raw(Model.Age);
 var LoginTime = @Html.Raw(Model.LoginDateTime);
 var IsAuthenticated = @Html.Raw(Model.IsAuthenticated);
 var IconHtml = @Html.Raw(Model.UserIconHTML);

The results are similar to our test case 1. However using @Html.Raw()on the HTML string did show us some change. The HTML is retained without changing to its entity names.

From the docs Html.Raw()

Wraps HTML markup in an HtmlString instance so that it is interpreted as HTML markup.

But still we have errors in other lines.

4) Using @Html.Raw and also wrapping it within quotes

var Name ='@Html.Raw(Model.Name)';
var Age = '@Html.Raw(Model.Age)';
var LoginTime = '@Html.Raw(Model.LoginDateTime)';
var IsAuthenticated = '@Html.Raw(Model.IsAuthenticated)';
var IconHtml = '@Html.Raw(Model.UserIconHTML)';

The results are good with all types. But our HTML data is now broken and this will break the scripts. The issue is because we are using single quotes ' to wrap the the data and even the data has single quotes.

We can overcome this issue with 2 approaches.

1) use double quotes " " to wrap the HTML part. As the inner data has only single quotes. (Be sure that after wrapping with double quotes there are no " within the data too)

  var IconHtml = "@Html.Raw(Model.UserIconHTML)";

2) Escape the character meaning in your server side code. Like

  UserIconHTML = "<i class=\"fa fa-users\"></i>"

Conclusion of property assignment

• Use quotes for non numeric dataType.
• Do Not use quotes for numeric dataType.
• Use Html.Raw to interpret your HTML data as is.
• Take care of your HTML data to either escape the quotes meaning in server side, Or use a different quote than in data during assignment to javascript variable.

---

Object assignment

Lets use different syntax for assignment and observe the results.

1) Without wrapping object assignment in quotes.

  var userObj = @Model; 

When you assign a c# object to javascript variable the value of the .ToString() of that oject will be assigned. Hence the above result.

2 Wrapping object assignment in quotes

var userObj = '@Model'; 

3) Using Html.Raw without quotes.

   var userObj = @Html.Raw(Model); 

4) Using Html.Raw along with quotes

   var userObj = '@Html.Raw(Model)'; 

The Html.Raw was of no much use for us while assigning a object to variable.

5) Using Json.Encode() without quotes

var userObj = @Json.Encode(Model); 

//result is like
var userObj = {"Name":"Raj",
               "IsAuthenticated":true,
               "LoginDateTime":"\/Date(1482572875150)\/",
               "Age":26,
               "UserIconHTML":"\u003ci class=\"fa fa-users\"\u003e\u003c/i\u003e"
              };

We do see some change, We see our Model is being interpreted as a object. But we have those special characters changed into entity names. Also wrapping the above syntax in quotes is of no much use. We simply get the same result within quotes.

From the docs of Json.Encode()

Converts a data object to a string that is in the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format.

As you have already encountered this entity Name issue with property assignment and if you remember we overcame it with the use of Html.Raw. So lets try that out. Lets combine Html.Raw and Json.Encode

6) Using Html.Raw and Json.Encode without quotes.

var userObj = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model));

Result is a valid Javascript Object

 var userObj = {"Name":"Raj",
     "IsAuthenticated":true,
     "LoginDateTime":"\/Date(1482573224421)\/",
     "Age":26,
     "UserIconHTML":"\u003ci class=\"fa fa-users\"\u003e\u003c/i\u003e"
 };

7) Using Html.Raw and Json.Encode within quotes.

var userObj = '@Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model))';

As you see wrapping with quotes gives us a JSON data

Conslusion on Object assignment

• Use Html.Raw and Json.Encode in combintaion to assign your object to javascript variable as JavaScript object.
• Use Html.Raw and Json.Encode also wrap it within quotes to get a JSON

Note: If you have observed the DataTime data format is not right. This is because as said earlier Converts a data object to a string that is in the JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format and JSON does not contain a date type. Other options to fix this is to add another line of code to handle this type alone using javascipt Date() object

var userObj.LoginDateTime = new Date('@Html.Raw(Model.LoginDateTime)'); 
//without Json.Encode

---

---

How to access Model data in Javascript/Jquery code block in .js file

Razor syntax has no meaning in .js file and hence we cannot directly use our Model insisde a .js file. However there is a workaround.

1) Solution is using javascript Global variables.

We have to assign the value to a global scoped javascipt variable and then use this variable within all code block of your .cshtml and .js files. So the syntax would be

<script type="text/javascript">
  var userObj = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model)); //For javascript object
  var userJsonObj = '@Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model))'; //For json data
</script>

With this in place we can use the variables userObj and userJsonObj as and when needed.

Note: I personally dont suggest using global variables as it gets very hard for maintainance. However if you have no other option then you can use it with having a proper naming convention .. something like userAppDetails_global.

2) Using function() or closure Wrap all the code that is dependent on the model data in a function. And then execute this function from the .cshtml file .

external.js

 function userDataDependent(userObj){
  //.... related code
 }

.cshtml file

 <script type="text/javascript">
  userDataDependent(@Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model))); //execute the function     
</script>

Note: Your external file must be referenced prior to the above script. Else the userDataDependent function is undefined.

Also note that the function must be in global scope too. So either solution we have to deal with global scoped players.

Answer 2

You could take your entire server-side model and turn it into a Javascript object by doing the following:

var model = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model));

In your case if you just want the FloorPlanSettings object, simply pass the Encode method that property:

var floorplanSettings = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model.FloorPlanSettings));

Answer 3

Wrapping the model property around parens worked for me. You still get the same issue with Visual Studio complaining about the semi-colon, but it works.

var closedStatusId = @(Model.ClosedStatusId);

Answer 4

If "ReferenceError: Model is not defined" error is raised, then you might try to use the following method:

$(document).ready(function () {

    @{  var serializer = new System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer();
         var json = serializer.Serialize(Model);
    }

    var model = @Html.Raw(json);
    if(model != null && @Html.Raw(json) != "undefined")
    {
        var id= model.Id;
        var mainFloorPlanId = model.MainFloorPlanId ;
        var imageDirectory = model.ImageDirectory ;
        var iconsDirectory = model.IconsDirectory ;
    }
});

Hope this helps...

Answer 5

try this: (you missed the single quotes)

var floorplanSettings = '@Html.Raw(Json.Encode(Model.FloorPlanSettings))';