Conditionals in Views

Question

I am fairly new to ASP MVC and was wondering what is the best way to handle conditional statements in your views? I am sure there isn't a one size fits all approach, but for simple checks is it wise to have If-Then-Else statements littering the view?

For example, say I have a list and wish to set the class on one of the list items if one of the model properties is set.

<% if (myModel.MyProperty == 1) { %>
   <li class="myClass">
<% } else { %>
   <li>
<% } %>

Is this the best way to approach this, or is there a better way? I am just concerned that if you have numerous conditionals like this in your view it is going to start to look pretty messy.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Answer 1

I would put this in your controller. Assuming you don't mind having

<li class="">

Answer 2

<ul>
    <% foreach (var item in Model.Items) { <%
    <li<%= item.HasProperty ? " class="\class\"" : "" %>>
        <%= Html.Encode(item.Name) %>
    </li>
    <% } %>
</ul>

Answer 3

If you really want a cleaner view, you could create a helper:

public static class MyHelpers {
    // Need a more descriptive name (based on what you're generating)
    public static string MyListItemHelper(this HtmlHelper helper, bool condition) {
        if(condition) {
            return "<li class=\"myClass\">";
        } else {
            return "<li>";
        }
    }
}

Then your view is just:

<%= Html.MyListItemHelper(myModel.MyProperty == 1) %>
    ...
</li>