How to display two shape result on a single page in Orchard? - c#-4.0

Question

Using below code, I have two shape results:
public ActionResult CompareRevisions(List<String> Ids)
{
contentItemLeft = // code to get a ContentItem
contentItemRight = // code to get a ContentItem
dynamic modelLeft = Services.ContentManager.BuildDisplay(contentItemLeft);
dynamic modelRight = Services.ContentManager.BuildDisplay(contentItemRight);
var ctx = Services.WorkContext;
ctx.Layout.Metadata.Alternates.Add("Layout_Null");
var shapeResultLeft = new ShapeResult(this, modelLeft);
var shapeResultRight = new ShapeResult(this, modelRight);
return shapeResultLeft;
}
When I return any of one shape result such as return shapeResultLeft at the last line of Controller, the browser displays perfectly the Content. However How can I display both of my ShapeResults: shapeResultLeft , shapeResultRight on the Page same time ?
How do I return a list of ShapeResults and display it using the View/Layout file ?

Answer 1

You have multiple options for this:
Method 1
one most used in MVC (not Orchard specific) is a viewmodel:
public class MyViewModel {
public dynamic Shape1 { get; set; }
public dynamic Shape2 { get; set; }
}
public ActionResult CompareRevisions(List<String> Ids) {
// ..
var viewModel = new MyViewModel {
Shape1 = modelLeft,
Shape2 = modelRight
}
return View(viewModel)
}
view:
#model My.NameSpace.ViewModels.MyViewModel
#Display(Model.Shape1)
#Display(Model.Shape2)
Method 2
Without using strongly typed viewmodels, you can use orchard's dynamic viewmodel:
// inject IShapeFactory through Dependency Injection
public MyController(IShapeFactory shapeFactory) {
Shape = shapeFactory;
}
public dynamic Shape { get; set; } // inject with DI through IShapeFactory
public ActionResult CompareRevisions(List<String> Ids) {
// ..
var viewModel = Shape
.ViewModel() // dynamic
.Shape1(modelLeft)
.Shape2(modelRight);
return View(viewModel);
}
Method 3
Or with Orchard's list, when the number of shapes could vary:
public dynamic Shape { get; set; } // inject with DI through IShapeFactory
public ActionResult CompareRevisions(List<String> Ids) {
// ..
var list = Shape.List();
list.AddRange(myShapes); // myShapes is a collection of build shapes (modelLeft, modelRight)
var viewModel = Shape
.ViewModel()
.List(list);
return View(viewModel);
}
view:
#Display(Model.List);