Use of expando objects in views?

Question

Edit: Seems numerous people think this is a dumb idea, so I would appreciate an explanation of why it's bad? I was trying to make one partial view that could handle a list of any models to display in table format. I was planning on extending it then to allow also take config options to say what columns to display and add extra ones after I figured out the basics. Is there a better way to do this?

How does one use a list of expando objects in views? I am trying to make a view that can display a table format of a list of any of my models, and it looks like expando object is a good fit for this, but I can't figure out how to get the iterations properly.

I tried using these links: Dynamic Anonymous type in Razor causes RuntimeBinderException, ExpandoObject, anonymous types and Razor but they seem either incomplete or not what what I am doing.

Here is my view:

@using System.Reflection
@model IList<dynamic>

<h2>ExpandoTest</h2>
@if(Model.Count > 0)
{
    <table>
        @foreach (dynamic item in Model)
        {
            foreach(var props in typeof(item).GetProperties(BindingFlags.Public | BindingFlags.Static))
            {
                <tr>
                    <td>
                        @props.Name : @props.GetValue(item, null)
                    </td>
                </tr>
            }

        }
    </table>
}

My controller:

public ActionResult ExpandoTest()
    {
        IList<dynamic> list =
            EntityServiceFactory.GetService<UserService>().GetList(null, x => x.LastName).ToExpando().ToList();

        return View(list);
    }

Extension method:

 public static IEnumerable<dynamic> ToExpando(this IEnumerable<object> anonymousObject)
    {
        IList<dynamic> list = new List<dynamic>();

        foreach(var item in anonymousObject)
        {
            IDictionary<string, object> anonymousDictionary = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(item);
            IDictionary<string, object> expando = new ExpandoObject();
            foreach (var nestedItem in anonymousDictionary)
                expando.Add(nestedItem);

            list.Add(expando);
        }

        return list.AsEnumerable();
    }

The list of expando items are being properly created I can see through debugging, but in the view it says item can not be resolved in the typeof(item) statement and throws the error saying type item cannot be found. If I try item.GetType().GetProperties() that returns nothing. Now I understand that these don't work because the type is dynamic, but how can I dynamically display the properties and values then?

Answer 1

You can cast a ExpandoObject to an IDictionary, and do something like this:

foreach(var prop in item as IDictionary<string, object>)
{
    <tr>
        <td>
            @prop.Key
            @prop.Value
        </td>
    </tr>
}