How to output a list of string in MVC from a FOREACH statement in views?

Question

public ActionResult Directories()
    {
        GetFolderInfo folder = new GetFolderInfo();
        {
            string dir = @"C:\";
            foreach (string d in Directory.GetDirectories(dir))
            {
                List<string> ab = new List<string>();
                ab.Add(Path.GetFileName(d));
                folder.FolderInformation = ab.ToString();
            }
        }
        return View(folder);
    }

Ok so in my views, i call this but i do not get correct list. I want this method to show me all the file names in the folder 'dir' and display it in my test website

    @model TestMVC.Models.GetFolderInfo

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Directories";
}

<h2>Directories</h2>

<table>
    <tr>
        <td>
            @Model.FolderInformation  
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

this above is my views for the method and my model is

namespace TestMVC.Models
{
    public class GetFolderInfo
    {
        public string FolderInformation { get; set; }
    }
}

you need this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5031035/mvc-display-files-from-a-folder-in-a-view or http://stackoverflow.com/questions/28231405/how-to-create-view-to-display-list-of-files-in-asp-net-mvc-4-project — Amitd, Apr 20 '17 at 16:49

Rion Williams · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-20T17:11:28.040

2

Based off of your structure, you'll may want to adjust your model to actually store a collection of strings that represent your paths if you want to be able to iterate through them in your View:

public class GetFolderInfo
{
    public IEnumerable<string> FolderInformation { get; set; }
}

This will allow you to directly set the paths within your existing code:

GetFolderInfo folder = new GetFolderInfo();
string dir = @"C:\";

// Store your directory paths
List<string> directories = new List<string>();
foreach (var directory in Directory.GetDirectories(dir))
{
    // Add the directory path to your collection
    directories.Add(directory);
}

// Set your paths
folder.FolderInformation = directories;

Now since you have a collection, you can simply iterate through them within your view:

<h2>Directories</h2>

<table>
    @foreach (var directory in Model.FolderInformation)
    {
        <tr>
            <td>
                @directory
            </td>
        </tr>
    }
</table>

If you wanted to get a bit more complex and store the actual Directory and it's underlying files, then you'll need to iterate through the files within that directory as well within your loop:

// Store your directory paths
List<string> files = new List<string>();
foreach (var directory in Directory.GetDirectories(dir))
{
    var actualDirectory = new DirectoryInfo(directory);
    foreach (FileInfo file in actualDirectory.GetFiles())
    {
         files.Add(file.FullName);
    }
}

folder.FolderInformation = files;

edited Apr 20 '17 at 17:11

answered Apr 20 '17 at 16:50

Rion Williams

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System.Collections.Generic.List`1[System.String] Is the result from this :( – Apr 20 '17 at 16:55
The result where? You need to use the code that I provided in your View as well to properly iterate through the objects within your model. – Rion Williams Apr 20 '17 at 16:58
the foreach throws an error about cannot convert string to system.io.directoryinfo – Apr 20 '17 at 17:04
string or var doesnt contain "fullName" so the add line throws error. I just changed it to Path.GetFileName(directory) and it works – Apr 20 '17 at 17:08
Hmmm, I had thought that `GetDirectories()` returned a `Dictionary[]`, but it seems it's a string array. If that's the case, you'll need to resolve the dictionary to iterate through its files. See the second example above. – Rion Williams Apr 20 '17 at 17:11
It depends on what your `Directory` object was. If it is a [`DirectoryInfo`](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.directoryinfo(v=vs.110).aspx) object, then you can directly access the folders via the `GetDirectories()` method. Otherwise, if it is just a [`Directory`](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.directory(v=vs.110).aspx), then you need to resolve each individual one so that you can iterate through the files. – Rion Williams Apr 20 '17 at 17:15

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

0

Just adding another easier and efficient option:

You should use Directory.EnumerateDirectories. This will work same as GetDirectories. The difference is noted in this SO Answer.

More information on EnumerateDirectories is in this MSDN article.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

Community

1
1

answered Apr 20 '17 at 17:51

Pratik Gaikwad

1,526
2
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44

How to output a list of string in MVC from a FOREACH statement in views?

2 Answers2