Radio Button Enum Helper for model with resource f

Question

Problem:

Need to bind a strongly typed model which has a Gender as enum property. Also i like to show a Display text from a Resource file.

My Model is

public enum GenderViewModel
{
  [Display(Name = "Male", ResourceType = typeof(Resources.Global), Order = 0)]
  Male,
  [Display(Name = "Female", ResourceType = typeof(Resources.Global), Order = 1)]
  Female

}

Initially, I tried following http://romikoderbynew.com/2012/02/23/asp-net-mvc-rendering-enum-dropdownlists-radio-buttons-and-listboxes/

But it was bit complex and i was unable to correct my HTML however i want.

Then i had a look of simple and easy implementation from stackoverflow, pass enum to html.radiobuttonfor MVC3

and used a HtmlHelper in cshtml like below

@Html.RadioButtonForEnum(m => m.Gender)

HTML Produced

<label for="_Gender_Male">
 <input type="radio" value="Male" name="Gender" id="_Gender_Male" 
 data-val-required="Gender is required" data-val="true" checked="checked">
 <span class="radiotext">Male</span>
</label>

<label for="_Gender_Female">
<input type="radio" value="Female" name="Gender" id="_Gender_Female">
<span class="radiotext">Female</span></label>

It really simple and works well for me. But i am not getting values from Resource files. My application is multilingual and I use a Global Resource file for different language support.

Issue:

Male displayed should be Man and Female displayed should be Kvinna should be from Resource file, as my current culture is sv-se

Could any one help/ provide a simple solution which has a good control over HTML?

Answer 1

All you have to do is adapt my original helper so that it takes into account the DisplayAttribute:

public static class HtmlExtensions
{
    public static MvcHtmlString RadioButtonForEnum<TModel, TProperty>(
        this HtmlHelper<TModel> htmlHelper,
        Expression<Func<TModel, TProperty>> expression
    )
    {
        var metaData = ModelMetadata.FromLambdaExpression(expression, htmlHelper.ViewData);
        if (!metaData.ModelType.IsEnum)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("This helper is intended to be used with enum types");
        }

        var names = Enum.GetNames(metaData.ModelType);
        var sb = new StringBuilder();

        var fields = metaData.ModelType.GetFields(
            BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.GetField | BindingFlags.Public
        );

        foreach (var name in names)
        {
            var id = string.Format(
                "{0}_{1}_{2}",
                htmlHelper.ViewData.TemplateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix,
                metaData.PropertyName,
                name
            );
            var radio = htmlHelper.RadioButtonFor(expression, name, new { id = id }).ToHtmlString();
            var field = fields.Single(f => f.Name == name);
            var label = name;
            var display = field
                .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false)
                .OfType<DisplayAttribute>()
                .FirstOrDefault();
            if (display != null)
            {
                label = display.GetName();
            }

            sb.AppendFormat(
                "<label for=\"{0}\">{1}</label> {2}",
                id,
                HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(label),
                radio
            );
        }
        return MvcHtmlString.Create(sb.ToString());
    }
}

Now if you have decorated some of the enum values with the DisplayAttribute, the values will come from the resource file.

Answer 2

You should replace in the extension method were it uses name for the <label> to use the resource you would like.

You should use a code kind of this one I adapted from here:

var type = typeof(metaData.ModelType);
var memInfo = type.GetMember(name);
var attributes = memInfo[0].GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DisplayAttribute), false);
var description = ((DisplayAttribute)attributes[0]).GetDescription();

And then put description into the <label>.

I've not tested it!