ASP.NET MVC: enums and ViewData[] keys

Question

For ViewData, rather than using strings as the key, I'm using enums. I currently have one big list right now that can be accessed from anywhere. Some enums are used across multiple Controller/View pairs. Is there a better way to categorize these enums rather than just an ever growing list?

I don't like the hard coded strings that are common for ViewData. Enums give great intellisense. I thought about categorizing enums by controller. That doesn't work so well though since particular enum values might be shared across controllers and need some centralized location.

Answer 1

Instead of using the ViewData dictionary, have you considered using strongly typed ViewModels?

If you have a class called MyViewModel, you can do this from your Controller class:

public ViewResult Index()
{
    return this.View(new MyViewModel());
}

MyViewModel can be any class - it does not need to implement any specific interfaces or anything. You can then add all the properties to that class that you need in the View.

You can define the view as a strongly typed View based on your ViewModel. In your .aspx file, you need to replace this:

Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage"

with this:

Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<MyViewModel>"

This means that you will now have strongly typed access (including IntelliSense) to the ViewModel from the View:

this.ViewData.Model.MyProperty

I never use the ViewData dictionary, as the alternative outlined here is much stronger.