What's the difference between ViewData and ViewBag?

.net asp.net-mvc-3 difference viewbag viewdata
user469652 picture user469652 · Jan 16, 2011 · Viewed 198.4k times · Source

I saw the ViewBag in MVC 3. How's that different than ViewData in MVC 2?

Answer

Darin Dimitrov picture Darin Dimitrov · Jan 16, 2011

It uses the C# 4.0 dynamic feature. It achieves the same goal as viewdata and should be avoided in favor of using strongly typed view models (the same way as viewdata should be avoided).

So basically it replaces magic strings:

ViewData["Foo"]

with magic properties:

ViewBag.Foo

for which you have no compile time safety.

I continue to blame Microsoft for ever introducing this concept in MVC.

The name of the properties are case sensitive.

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