Display a related variable other than the related table's primary key (ID)

Question

I wonder if you can help me discover how to a display a related model variable other than the related table's primary key (in this case the pk is a id and it is not very helpful).

Model:

[EdmRelationshipNavigationPropertyAttribute("PlantModel", "FK_PlantSoilpH_Plant", "PlantSoilpH")]
        public EntityCollection<PlantSoilpH> PlantSoilpHs
        {
            get
            {
                return ((IEntityWithRelationships)this).RelationshipManager.GetRelatedCollection<PlantSoilpH>("PlantModel.FK_PlantSoilpH_Plant", "PlantSoilpH");
            }
            set
            {
                if ((value != null))
                {
                    ((IEntityWithRelationships)this).RelationshipManager.InitializeRelatedCollection<PlantSoilpH>("PlantModel.FK_PlantSoilpH_Plant", "PlantSoilpH", value);
                }
            }
        }

Controller:

public ViewResult Index()
{
    return View(db.Plants.ToList());
}

View:

@foreach (var item in Model) {
    <tr>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.PlantName)
        </td>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.ScientificName)
        </td>
        <td>
            @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.PlantSoilpHs)
        </td>

My guess has been that I should just be able to add 'item.PlantSoilpHs.Name' but that doesn't seem to be the case. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

-Scott

Answer 1

From what I can gather by analyzing your question and comments, you are using the View to return a list of Plant objects - which by your description only contain PlantID and PlantName. You can't return the SoilpHName this way. In order to get the SolpHName associated with a plant, instead of

return View(db.Plants.ToList()); 

you have to use

return View(db.PlantSoilpHs.ToList()); 

in the Controller and

@foreach (var item in Model) {
<tr> 
    <td> 
        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Plant.PlantName) 
    </td> 
    <td> 
        @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.SoilpH.Name) 
    </td>
</tr>

Forgive me if the code is not accurate, it wasn't tested, and was provided only based on your problem description.