Bug with EditorFor when EditorTemplate uses DatePicker

[Shane Milton]

We have a problem when we use the DatePicker inside an EditorTemplate. The problem is that the name that it assumes for all instances after the first instance is identical to the first instance's name, which causes the javascript to break.

Our ViewModel:

public class Foo
{
    DateTime? StartDate { get; set; }
    DateTime? EndDate { get; set; }
}

Our View:

<%= Html.EditorFor(m => m.StartDate, "General/DateTime") %>
<%= Html.EditorFor(m => m.EndDate, "General/DateTime") %>

Our EditorTemplate:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<System.DateTime?>" %>
<%= Html.Telerik().DatePicker()
                .Value((Model.HasValue ? Model.Value : DateTime.Today))
                .ShowButton(true) %>

I've put in a temporary work-around where I force the Name in the EditorTemplate to something unique (Name="Foo" + Model.GetHashCode() will do it) but this is obviously a terrible idea as it breaks validators and such. However, it's sufficient enough to prove that the DatePicker has issues naming itself.

Any solid workarounds or fixes for this?

[Shane Milton]

And of course, as soon as I post this and give up, I find a solution:
http://demos.telerik.com/aspnet-mvc/datepicker/edittemplate?theme=vista


So curious.. Why was my above attempt failing? Is this a bug in the DatePicker or is this an MVC limitation?

[Georgi Krustev]

Hi Shane Milton,

As you know ASP.NET MVC framwork does not handle controls' id. Hence you need to generate id of the datepicker by hand. In this chain of thoughts I must say that this is not a bug.

Actually I checked your editor template, but I could not seen the set name using Name(,,,) method. As you know it is obligatory. Did you remove it when post the sample code?

Best wishes,
Georgi Krustev
the Telerik team

[Denis]

Just use the following line as an argument to Name() function

@ViewData.TemplateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix

you may also prefix or postfix it with arbitrary string if you already use the appropriate names, here's my code for instance:

@if ( Model.HasValue )
{
    @Html.Kendo().DateTimePickerFor(model => Model.Value).Name(@ViewData.TemplateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix)
}
else
{
    @Html.Kendo().DateTimePicker().Name(@ViewData.TemplateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix)
}