creating multiline textbox using Html.Helper function

I am trying to create a multiline Textbox using ASP.NET MVC with the following code.

<%= Html.TextBox("Body", null, new { TextBoxMode = "MultiLine", Columns = "55px", Rows = "10px" })%>

It just shows up a single line fixed sized textbox.

on the other hand

<asp:TextBox runat="server" ID="Body" TextMode="MultiLine" Columns="55" Rows="10"></asp:TextBox> 

renders the right view, but in the controller's post method with formCollection named form

form["Body"]; 

returns a null value.

A multiline textbox in html is <textarea>:

<%= Html.TextArea("Body", null, new { cols = "55", rows = "10" }) %>

or:

<%= Html.TextArea("Body", null, 10, 55, null) %>

or even better:

<%= Html.TextAreaFor(x => x.Body, 10, 55, null) %>

And yet another possibility is to decorate your view model property with the [DataType] attribute:

[DataType(DataType.MultilineText)]
public string Body { get; set; }

and in your view:

<%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Body) %>

and set the width and height through CSS.

MVC4 you should use:

@Html.TextAreaFor(x => x.Body, 10, 15, null)

This allows to multi-line, set custom width and height and setting place holder. For validation used StringLength or RegularExpression in Model.cs

Razor View Syntax

@Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.property, new { style = "width: 420px; height: 100px;", placeholder = "Placeholder here.." })

I think the Html.EditorFor Is what you're looking for. That's only for MVC2 and up though. Does that help?

If you're using DataAnnotations and decorate your property with the [DataType(DataType.MultilineText)] Attribute, MVC should scaffold out the required html for you.

In Entity layer:

[MaxLength(500)]
public string Body { get; set; }

And in view:

@Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.Body, new { rows = 10, cols = 50 })

VB.net solution:

@Html.TextAreaFor(Function(Model) Model.Body, 3, 55, Nothing)