ASP.NET MVC IEnumerable Issues with RenderPartial

Question

Hi Guys,

I have a main page which uses a ViewModel I have created:

public class HomeViewModel
{
    public List<Category> Categories { get; set; }
    public List<Image> Images { get; set; }

    public HomeViewModel(List<Image> images, List<Category> categories)
    {
        Images = images;
        Categories = categories;
    }
}

On my main page I am outputing the Categories but then passing the Images through to a PartialView.

<div id="gallery">
    <% Html.RenderPartial("gallery", Model.Images); %>
</div>

When I run my work I am getting this error: error CS0308: The non-generic type 'System.Collections.IEnumerable' cannot be used with type arguments

This is my partial view:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<IEnumerable<Gallery.Models.Image>>" %>
    <%@ Import Namespace="Gallery.Helpers" %>

    <ul>
        <% foreach (var item in Model)
        { %>
            <li>             
                <%= Html.ImageLink(item.imageID.ToString(), Url.Content("~/Uploads/" + item.imageLocation).ToString(), item.imageDescription, Url.Content("~/Uploads/" + item.imageThumb).ToString(), item.imageDescription, null)%>
            </li>
        <% } %>
    </ul>

I was using .NET 4 and this worked fine but I understand they have altered Generics since 3.5 which made it possible. However my web server company hasn't upgraded their servers meaning I have to deploy using 3.5. I have got the Partial to work if I cast the Partial as the same object as the Main page but then I am passing through more ViewData than I need to. The reason I am using Partials is to take advantage of AJAX in the .NET framework. E.g. the Categories are AJAX links goto a method that method returns an updated Partial with the category images, I should only need to pass Images into the Parial.

Any help on solving this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jon

Answer 1

I suspect that you are not importing the System.Collections.Generic namespace for your ASPX/ASCX files so the compiler things you're using the non-generic IEnumerable.

Go to your web.config file and ensure that all the necessary namespaces are being imported.

Alternatively, use the full type name in your "Inherits" attribute:

Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<Gallery.Models.Image>>"