Calling IEnumerable overload of DisplayNameFor [duplicate]

Answer 1

I have exactly the same issue because I am using ViewModels so I have a ViewModel with an IEnumerable of actual objects as a property.

I did come across this post where if you check the answer the guy has created his own HTMLHelper for it to solve this issue http://forums.asp.net/t/1783733.aspx. His version is:

public static MvcHtmlString DisplayColumnNameFor<TModel, TClass, TProperty>(
    this HtmlHelper<TModel> helper, IEnumerable<TClass> model, 
    Expression<Func<TClass, TProperty>> expression)
{
    var name = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);
    name = helper.ViewContext.ViewData.TemplateInfo.GetFullHtmlFieldName(name);
    var metadata = ModelMetadataProviders.Current.GetMetadataForProperty(
        () => Activator.CreateInstance<TClass>(), typeof(TClass), name);

    return new MvcHtmlString(metadata.DisplayName);
}

You have to pass two arguments enumeration and expression rather than the normal just expression so you may prefer @franz answer. I can't see there being anyway round having to pass 2 arguments since it needs to know which property of the view model you are applying the expression to.

Answer 2

Another similar workaround that works even if there are no rows could be:

...
@{var dummy = Model.FirstOrDefault(); }
    <tr>
        <th>
            @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => dummy.SomeModelProperty)
        </th>
...