MVC html.checkbox posting two values to controller

First of all, you need a viewModel for the report;

public class Report
{
    public string ReportName { get; set; }
    public bool IsSelected { get; set; }
}

Then let's assume you are using your "Home" controller for this. Go to Home folder which is under Views in your project.

Create a new Folder called DisplayTemplates. This name and folder position is extremely important. So use the exact name.

Then create a new view inside DisplayTemplates. The name of your view has to be Report.cshtml.

In Report.cshtml view, use the below code;

model MvcApplication1.Models.Report

@Html.CheckBoxFor(m=>m.IsSelected)
@Html.Label(Model.ReportName, Model.ReportName)

Then go back in to Home view folder and select Index.cshtml. Add below code to index page.

@model List<MvcApplication1.Models.Report>

@using (Html.BeginForm("ShowReports", "Home", Model, FormMethod.Post))
{
     @Html.DisplayFor(m => m)

    <button type="submit">Show Selected Reports</button>
}

Now add below code to HomeController.

    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        List<Report> reports = new List<Report>()
        {
            new Report(){ReportName = "Report 1", IsSelected = false},
            new Report(){ReportName = "Report 2", IsSelected = false},
            new Report(){ReportName = "Report 3", IsSelected = false},
            new Report(){ReportName = "Report 4", IsSelected = false},
            new Report(){ReportName = "Report 5", IsSelected = false},
        };
        return View(reports);
    }

    public ActionResult ShowReports(IEnumerable<Report> model)
    {
        Debug.Write(model.Count());
        return View(); //create a blank view called ShowReport.
    }

Add a break point to ShowReport and have a look at what you are getting for the model variable.

You can use the CheckBoxFor(x=>x) helper if you have that option available. I was creating a form which was self generating and I need didn't have a hardcoded model to build the form from.

So to fix this issue, I looked at the result and if the checkbox was being submitted checked it would return two values (true/false) like you stated. if the check box wasn't checked it would submit only false, the hidden value.

There was other ways people where suggesting using javascript, but what if javascript was disabled? So i decided to use this in the controller which receives a form collection.

public ActionResult methodName (FormCollection collecitonName)
        {
            foreach (var key in collecitonName.AllKeys)
            {
                var isCheckboxTrue = Request.Form[key].Contains("true")
            }
         }