what is the equivalent of asp:datalist in asp.net-mvc

Question

i am migrating a site over to asp.net from an asp.net site and one of the pages has a datalist as below:

 <asp:DataList ID="MyDataList" runat="server" BackColor="#EEEEEE" CellPadding="10"
    ItemStyle-HorizontalAlign="Center" GridLines="Both" Width="750" RepeatDirection="Horizontal"
    RepeatColumns="4" RepeatLayout="Table" ItemStyle-VerticalAlign="Top">
    <ItemTemplate>
        <table>
            <tr align="center">
                <td valign="top">
                    <table>
                        <tr>
                            <td width="30%">
                            </td>
                            <td>
                                <asp:HyperLink ID="HyperLink1" runat="server">
                                <asp:Image style="cursor:pointer" CssClass="instant ishadow50" ID="lnkEnlarge" runat="server"></asp:Image></asp:HyperLink>
                            </td>
                            <td width="30%">
                            </td>
                        </tr>
                    </table>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr align="center">
                <td>
                    <asp:Label CssClass="Comments" ID="lblComment" runat="server"></asp:Label><br>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </ItemTemplate>
</asp:DataList>

what is the equivalent in asp.net-mvc. how would i go about migrating?

Answer 1

ASP.NET MVC has no server controls. you can use a simple foreach loop on your model (you can use a partial view too).

different option is to write a Html helper.

Answer 2

@{
        //repeatdirection = Horizontal, RepeatColumns = 4
        const int NumberOfColumns = 4; 
        int skip = 0;
        var items = Model.DataStuff.Skip(skip).Take(NumberOfColumns);
        while(items.Count() > 0) {
            <tr>
                @foreach (var item in items) {
                    <td>
                        @Html.ActionLink(item.Name...etc)
                    </td>
                }
            </tr>
            skip += NumberOfColumns;
            items = Model.Skip(skip).Take(NumberOfColumns);
        }
    }

Answer 3

As CD points out, the basic way is to just write the Html. Take it back to the old school. There are some more advanced helpers avaliable if you prefer to take a more abstracted approach. One good option for stuff like this is the MvcContrib grid -- it will generally keep you out of direct html generation while still working MVC style.

NB: link points to a version of the MvcContrib grid that post-dates the public release on CodePlex at the time of this writing, you will need to grab the source and build your own to take advantage of it.