If statement not returning value in razor

Question

I attempting to get a numeric value to be returned from a database using linq in razor. When I attempt nothing is being returned. Here is an example of my what i did. The variable which is not printing is the "grad_year"

@{
    var trust = new trusteeEntities();
    var former = (from g in trust.Members
                where g.status == "Former"
                orderby g.lname ascending
                select g);
    var pos = 0;
    foreach (var f in former)
    {
        <div class="member">
            <h6>@f.fname @f.lname @if (f.grad_year != null) { @string.Format("'{0:00}", f.grad_year); }  @if (f.deceased == true){@Html.Raw("**")}</h6>
       </div>
    }                      
}

Answer 1

The only logical conclusion is that your collection of former is empty (Count == 0) and thus your enumeration is not executed. Determine why the collection is empty to verify.

Answer 2

It is probably not getting outputted because it is just executing the 'string.Format(..)' as a statement.

You have to explicity tell the Razor engine to output it.

This can be done by putting <text></text> around it, eg

@if (f.grad_year != null) { <text>@string.Format("'{0:00}", f.grad_year)</text> }

---

Edit:

You could also do this with the conditional operator , eg

@(f.grad_year != null ? @string.Format("'{0:00}", f.grad_year) : null)