I tried to use in my ASP.NET MVC 1 project HTML5 data properties . (I'm new to C and ASP.NET MVC.)

 <%= Html.ActionLink("« Previous", "Search",
     new { keyword = Model.Keyword, page = Model.currPage - 1},
     new { @class = "prev", data-details = "Some Details"   })%>

The "data details" in the htmlAttributes above gives the following error:

 CS0746: Invalid anonymous type member declarator. Anonymous type members 
  must be declared with a member assignment, simple name or member access.

It works when I use data_details, but I think it needs to start with "data -" according to the specification.

My question:

• Is there a way to make this work and use HTML5 data properties with Html.ActionLink or similar Html helper?
• Is there another alternative mechanism for attaching custom data to elements? This data will be processed later by JS.

#1 building

It's easier than all of the above. The data properties in MVC that contain dashes (-) are satisfied by the use of underscores ().

<%= Html.ActionLink("« Previous", "Search",
 new { keyword = Model.Keyword, page = Model.currPage - 1},
 new { @class = "prev", data_details = "Some Details"   })%>

I see that Johnny o has already mentioned that.

#2 building

Update: support for this is built into MVC 3 and later. For recommended solutions, see the highly rated answers from Johnny o below.

I don't think there is any direct help to achieve this, but I have two ideas for you to try:

// 1: pass dictionary instead of anonymous object
<%= Html.ActionLink( "back", "Search",
    new { keyword = Model.Keyword, page = Model.currPage - 1},
    new Dictionary<string,Object> { {"class","prev"}, {"data-details","yada"} } )%>

// 2: pass custom type decorated with descriptor attributes
public class CustomArgs
{
    public CustomArgs( string className, string dataDetails ) { ... }

    [DisplayName("class")]
    public string Class { get; set; }
    [DisplayName("data-details")]
    public string DataDetails { get; set; }
}

<%= Html.ActionLink( "back", "Search",
    new { keyword = Model.Keyword, page = Model.currPage - 1},
    new CustomArgs( "prev", "yada" ) )%>

It's just the idea, it's not tested.

#3 building

I finally used a common hyperlink and Url.Action, such as:

<a href='<%= Url.Action("Show", new { controller = "Browse", id = node.Id }) %>'
  data-nodeId='<%= node.Id %>'>
  <%: node.Name %>
</a>

It's uglier, but you have more control over the a tag, which is sometimes useful on many Ajax sites.

HTH

#4 building

You can use it like this:

At Mvc:

@Html.TextBoxFor(x=>x.Id,new{@data_val_number="10"});

In Html:

<input type="text" name="Id" data_val_number="10"/>

#5 building

You can render with underscores ('u ') in mvc 4

Razor:

@Html.ActionLink("Vote", "#", new { id = item.FileId, }, new { @class = "votes", data_fid = item.FileId, data_jid = item.JudgeID, })

Html rendered

<a class="votes" data-fid="18587" data-jid="9" href="/Home/%23/18587">Vote</a>