Entity Framework object has datetime field that I want to convert to short date string before I pass to view (ASP.NET MVC4)

Question

I thought it was a pretty simple issue, and I might be overthinking it, but I can't figure out how to pass just a date string to my view. Here is the entity framework code first class:

public class Onus
{
public virtual int Id { get; set; }
public virtual string Title { get; set; }
[MaxLength(140)]
public virtual string Description { get; set; }
public virtual string Details { get; set; }
public virtual DateTime? DueDate { get; set; }
public virtual string Status { get; set; }
}

And here is the part of the controller where I want to change it:

public Onus GetOnus(int id)
{
var onus = db.Onuses.Find(id);

if (onus == null)
{
    throw new HttpResponseException(Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.NotFound));
}
return onus;
}

In the view I am using some ajax and javscript templating to show the data. If you need that code to, I will add it.

***EDIT

Sorry for not being more clear, I don't really have a controller manipulating this, it is all done with ajax:

var getOnus = function (id) {
            return $.ajax(onusApiUrl + "/" + id)
        };

var viewOnus = function () {
            var id = getId(this);
            onusServer.getOnus(id).done(viewOnusDetails);
        };

var viewOnusDetails = function (onus) {
            var output = templates.onusDetails(onus);
            $("#onusDetailsOutput").html(output);
        };

THere is a lot more javascript than that, but I believe that is all that you should need to see. Oh and the markup:

<div id="Details">
<div id="detailsLeft">
    <input type="hidden" value="{{Id}}" id="detailsId" />
    <header>
        <p><span class="onusTitleDetails">{{Title}}</span><span id="close">X</span></p>
    </header>
    {{#if DueDate}}
    <p class="detailsLabel">Due Date</p>
    <p class="onusDueDate">{{DueDate}}</p>
    {{/if}}
    <p class="detailsLabel">Description</p>
    <p class="onusDescriptionDetails">{{Description}}</p>
    <p class="detailsLabel">Details</p>
    <p class="onusDetails">{{Details}}</p>
</div>
<div id="detailAction">
    <div class="editOnus hover">Edit</div>
    <div class="deleteOnus hover">Delete</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="onusStatusDetails">{{Status}}</div>

Answer 1

It would be helpful to see the controller that is invoking the view, but I'll assume it's something like this:

public ActionResult MyController(int id)
{
    Onus onus = GetOnus(int id);
    return View(onus.DueDate.HasValue ? 
                onus.DueDate.Value.ToShortDateString() : 
                "(null)");
}

That will pass just the short date string to your model, which in turn should declare

@model string

Answer 2

What about adding another property to your entity, and then binding to that?

 public virtual DateTime? DueDate { get; set; }

 public string DueDateString
        {
            get { return DueDate != null ? DueDate.ToString() : string.Empty; }
        }