Checkbox for nullable boolean

user_801698 0
Viewed 115956

My model has a boolean that has to be nullable

public bool? Foo
{
   get;
   set;
}

so in my Razor cshtml I have

@Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.Foo)

except that doesn't work. Neither does casting it with (bool). If I do

@Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m.Foo.Value)

that doesn't create an error, but it doesn't bind to my model when posted and foo is set to null. Whats the best way to display Foo on the page and make it bind to my model on a post?

asp.net-mvc-3 razor nullable
19 Answers

For me the solution was to change the view model. Consider you are searching for invoices. These invoices can be paid or not. So your search has three options: Paid, Unpaid, or "I don't Care".

I had this originally set as a bool? field:

public bool? PaidInvoices { get; set; }

This made me stumble onto this question. I ended up created an Enum type and I handled this as follows:

@Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.PaidInvoices, PaidStatus.NotSpecified, new { @checked = true })
@Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.PaidInvoices, PaidStatus.Yes) 
@Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.PaidInvoices, PaidStatus.No)

Of course I had them wrapped in labels and had text specified, I just mean here's another option to consider.

user_6304070

Radio buttons are useful, but they don't allow you to deselect. If you want this behaviour, then consider using a drop-down/select. The following code will generate the SelectList and this binds successfully to a nullable boolean:

public static SelectList GetBoolTriState()
{
    var items = new List<SelectListItem>
    {
        new SelectListItem {Value = "", Text = ""},
        new SelectListItem {Value = "True", Text = "Yes"},
        new SelectListItem {Value = "False", Text = "No"},
    };

    return new SelectList(items, "Value", "Text");
}
user_7469840

If checked = True and not checked = null

Model

public NotNullFoo
{
    get { return this.Foo?? false; }
    set { this.Foo= (value == false ? null : true as bool?); }
}


public bool? Foo
{
   get;
   set;
}

View

  @Html.CheckBoxFor(x => Model.NotNullFoo })
user_154043090
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