Html.TextboxFor default value for Integer/Decimal to be Empty instead of 0

I am using the default asp.net MVC 2 syntax to construct TextBox's which are integer or decimal for my asp.net MVC web app:

<%: Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Loan.InterestRate) %>

pretty straight forward, but the problem is inherently of the fact my binding model objects are decimal or int and non-nullable, they print their value as zero (0) on page load if my model is empty (such as in add mode for a CRUD template) and zero is an incorrect value and is invalid for my page validation also.

How could I have textboxes which have no starting value, just an empty textbox, I understand zero is a potential value, but I only accept values greater than zero anyway, so this is not a problem for me.

I even tried casting as a nullable decimal and also a non-for helper (which is not ideal), but alas, I am still receiving the default '0' value. any ideas??

<%: Html.TextBox("Loan.InterestRate", Model.Loan.InterestRate == 0 ? 
    (decimal?)null : Model.Loan.InterestRate) %>

In your model add DisplayFormat attribute

[DisplayFormat(ApplyFormatInEditMode = true, DataFormatString = "{0:#.#}")]  
decimal  InterestRate { get; set; }

View

@Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.InterestRate)

This outputs empty instead of 0. More format examples here

Update

TextBoxFor does`s not works with format, but EditorFor does:

@Html.EditorFor(model => model.InterestRate)

Update 2

It does work for TextBoxFor this way:

@Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.InterestRate, "{0:#.#}")

I use this solution :

   @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Year, new { Value = "" })

refer to : https://stackoverflow.com/a/6186576/297487

You can override the default template by putting a custom template in /Shared/EditorTemplates or by controller in /ControllerName/EditorTemplates.

I use this one for Int's. Its named Int32.ascx:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" %>
<%
    string displayText = string.Empty;

    if (Model != null)
    {
        displayText = Model.ToString();
    }
    
%>

<%= Html.TextBox("", displayText)%>

Another one could be to check the value

@Html.TextBoxFor
(m => m.CertificateID, new { @Value = (Model.CertificateID > 0 ?Model.CertificateID.ToString() :string.Empty) })

What about "" instead of null.

    <%: Html.TextBox("Loan.InterestRate", 
Model.Loan.InterestRate == 0 ?     "" : Model.Loan.InterestRate) %>

Also why isnt Loan.InterestRate nullable?

<%: Html.TextBox("Loan.InterestRate", Model.Loan.InterestRate ?? "") %>

An alternative solution is to use jQuery to replace zeros with empty string when the page loads. Choose any name to use as a class name for all input fields which should be populated with empty string instead of zero. For example non-zero-num.

@Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.InterestRate, new { @class = "non-zero-num" }) 

And add the following script on your page:

<script>
    $(document).ready(function(){
        $(".non-zero-num").val($(this).val() == 0 ? '' : $(this).val());
    })
</script>

I think @jfar's answer points in the right direction but the Int32.ascx should be this

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<Int32>" %>
<%
    string displayText;

    if (Model == 0)
    {
        displayText = "";
    }
    else
    {
        displayText = Model.ToString();
    }

%>  

<%= Html.TextBox("", displayText)%>

or updated answer using Razor (/Shared/EditorTemplates/Int32.cshtml)

@model Int32
@{
    string text = Model == 0 ? "" : Model.ToString();
}
@Html.TextBox("", text)

Here is what you can do: (VB Code)

This is the core:

@IIf(Model.YourNumericValue = 0, "", Model.YourNumericValue)

Here is if you use the HTML to render your textbox

<input type="text" name="sYourTextboxName"  value="@IIf(Model.YourNumericValue= 0, "", Model.YourNumericValue))">

Here is if you use HTML helper to render you textbox

 @Html.TextBox("sYourTextboxName", IIf(Model.YourNumericValue= 0, "", Model.YourNumericValue))

IIf is a very handy one line feature - the way it works is this.

IIf(Expression, TruePart, FalsePart)

So basically you saying - if my Parameter = 0 - I want to output nothing, String.Empty, Null, "" - and for the false part - it is like - oh if my Parameter does not equal to 0 - then that must be something other than 0 - so I will output the my numeric value without worrying that the zero will be in the textbox.

Or however you want to structure it.

Hope that helped!