Access to MVC Models from standard ASCX UserControl - asp.net

Question

I've got a simple ASCX user control (non-MVC). The user control has a property on it (let's call it Title or something).
I've also got an MVC Partial View which contains the user control.
<%# Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<SomeModel>" %>
<%# Register TagPrefix="tag" TagName="Control" Src="~/path/to/ascx/control.ascx" %>
... snip ...
<tag:Control ID="myControl" runat="server" />
What I'd like to be able to do is something like this:
<tag:Control ID="myControl" runat="server" Title="<%= Model.Title %>" />
... so that I can access some property of the model inside my Control.
Unfortunately this method doesn't work, as I get a message saying "This is not scriptlet. Will be output as plain text".
Is what I'm trying to do even possible? If so, does anyone have any ideas how I can try and do it?
If it's relevant, this is a .Net 4 project, with MVC 2 components.
Thanks!
Neil

Answer 1

Is what I'm trying to do even possible?
Yes but it would be extremely ugly and it involves using a code behind (in an ASP.NET MVC view!!!):
<%# Page
Language="C#"
MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master"
Inherits="AppName.Views.Home.Index"
CodeBehind="Index.aspx.cs"
%>
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
Home Page
</asp:Content>
<asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server">
<asp:Label ID="Txt" runat="server" />
</asp:Content>
and in the corresponding code behind Index.aspx.cs (beurk..., I will vomit):
public partial class Index : System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<AppName.Models.MyViewModel>
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Txt.Text = Model.Title;
}
}
which could be improved like this to avoid the code behind nonsense:
<%# Page
Language="C#"
MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master"
Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<AppName.Models.MyViewModel>"
%>
<script runat="server">
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Txt.Text = Model.Title;
}
</script>
<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server">
Home Page
</asp:Content>
<asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server">
<asp:Label ID="Txt" runat="server" />
</asp:Content>
I wouldn't recommend you doing something like this if you intend to migrate to ASP.NET MVC 3 and the Razor view engine one day.

Answer 2

I found a solution that's a little cleaner. Still not to my liking, but good enough to wash my hands of this annoying issue.
<% ViewBag.Item = item; %>
<gc:Ribbon runat="server">
<Content>
<strong><%= ViewBag.Item.DataItem.Name %></strong>
</Content>
</gc:Ribbon>
Instead of passing an object into the user control to use within, assign it to the ViewBag (for each iteration if you're looping), and use it globally. If memory serves me right, I believe MVC 2 uses ViewData["loosely typed name"] instead of the dynamic ViewBag.