--- title: "Define ViewData in MVC." description: "Define ViewData in MVC." author: "Anonymous User" published: 2020-01-27 updated: 2020-01-27 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/155740/define-viewdata-in-mvc category: "asp.net mvc" tags: ["asp.net mvc"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # Define ViewData in MVC. [please tell me](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/33900/please-tell-me-what-are-the-technique-to-content-optimization) about [viewdata](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/12798/there-is-no-viewdata-item-of-type-ienumerable-selectlistitem-that-has-the-key-username) in [MVC](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/155803/define-cache-profile-in-mvc) with suitable example. ## Replies ### Reply by Mike Jason Like science fiction, diverse worlds of the future?.. like gloomy cyberpunk, neo-modern utopia, then take a look at this blog - SCI-fi arts. There you will find many new beautiful science fiction artworks from the most famous authors.\ ### Reply by Nishi Tiwari ## ViewData ViewData is defined as a dictionary of objects and derived from **ViewDataDictionary class.** We can access data value by using string as a key. It is the **[type-safe and requires typecasting for the data type](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/155739/define-viewbag-in-mvc)**. It also avoids error and check for null reference at run time. It is mainly accessible only during current request. ## Example We are creating the controller and returning a view to the browser. This controller passes ViewData to the view. ## Controller ``` 1. using System; 2. using System.Collections.Generic; 3. using System.Web.Mvc; 4. namespace ViewBagExample.Controllers 5. { 6. public class ViewBagController : Controller 7. { 8. // GET: ViewBag 9. public ActionResult Index() 10. { 11. List Courses = new List(); 12. Courses.Add("J2SE"); 13. Courses.Add("J2EE"); 14. Courses.Add("Spring"); 15. Courses.Add("Hibernates"); 16. ViewData["Courses"] = Courses; 17. return View(); 18. } 19. } 20. } ``` ## View ``` // Index.cshtml 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Index 6. 7. 8.

List of Courses

9. 17. 18. ``` Output: It produces the following output to the browser. ![Define ViewData in MVC.](https://www.mindstick.com/mindstickforums/c0f8fc33-1375-49e2-8117-0fea3178334e/images/18d33b03-f5a1-4430-abd3-1d45dceacf3d.png)\ --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/forum/155740/define-viewdata-in-mvc Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.