c# - html helpers for 'decimal' type and formatting?

Question

property:

public decimal Cost { get; set; }

html helper:

<%: Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Cost)%>

Question: when I am setting the Cost property, how do I format it? for example show a precision of two decimal points?

Answer 1

I've tweaked Jamiec's answer above a little to (a) make it compile and (b) use the same underlying methods as the framework does:

public static MvcHtmlString DecimalBoxFor<TModel>(this HtmlHelper<TModel> html, Expression<Func<TModel, decimal?>> expression, string format, object htmlAttributes = null)
{
    var name = ExpressionHelper.GetExpressionText(expression);

    decimal? dec = expression.Compile().Invoke(html.ViewData.Model);

    // Here you can format value as you wish
    var value = dec.HasValue ? (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(format) ? dec.Value.ToString(format) : dec.Value.ToString())
                : "";

    return html.TextBox(name, value, htmlAttributes);
}