Why would =ViewData[""] show a string but evaluating it for the same string fail?

Question

//CHECK IF WE SHOULD SHOW THE PASSWORD HINT OR NOT
Setting passwordhints;

using (var db = new dbDataContext())
{
    passwordhints = (from c in db.Settings
            where c.Name == "ShowPasswordHints" && c.ID == _ID
            select c).FirstOrDefault();
}

if (passwordhints != null)
    //NOTE: .Value IS A STRING
    ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] = passwordhints.Value;
else
    ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] = "False";

//END PASSWORD HINTS CHECK

is in the controller, when I get to the page itself I output

<%=ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"]%> into the title tag and I can see it up there it says "True" (without quotes, I also checked for spaces by surrounding it with parenthesis and there are no spaces it is literally just True)

However when I do

<%if(ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] == "True") {%> SHOW THIS <%}%>

SHOW THIS never appears, what the hell?

UPDATE: However, if ViewData is set like this... IT WORKS... HUH??

if (accountRepository.isLDAPEnabled(_ID))
                ViewData["LDAP"] = "True";
            else
                ViewData["LDAP"] = "False";

view...

<%if(ViewData["LDAP"] == "True"){ %>
           SHOW THIS
         <%} %>

THANKS EVERYONE, HERE IS NEW METHOD THAT IS WORKING GREAT

ViewData["something"] = true;

<%if(true.Equals(ViewData["something"])){%> SHOW THIS <%}%>

Ravenna

Answer 1

Since ViewData is an IDictionary<string, object>, ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] is of type object. By default, objects are compared by reference. You want a value comparison. Thus, try casting it to a string, which will cause a value comparison:

<%if((string)ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] == "True") {%> SHOW THIS <%}%>

More at msdn.

UPDATE: The value you put into ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] is always a string. However, since C# is statically typed, the compiler doesn't know that when you take it back out, it is a string -- it only knows that it will be an object, since ViewData is a IDictionary<string, object> (a dictionary returning plain objects). But since you know better, you can cast it to the string that you know it should be. (BTW, I think ViewData is one of the weakest points of the MVC framework, for this reason and others)

Why this works in the <title> is because the <%= %> tags call ToString() on whatever in them. Since ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"] is a string, it comes out like you'd expect -- ToString() of a string is the string itself.

Finally: why aren't you using a boolean?

Pointdevice

Perhaps a better (more safe) approach would be "True".Equals(ViewData["ShowPasswordHints"]). No ClassCastException if the object in the view data dictionary is not a string. – Robbierobbin

It would also help if you explained why this happens automatically when referencing the object in his first case, the title tag. – Croom

see my update, why does it sometimes work? When I tried saying = "True" instead of = obj.Value it still didn't work but the code I added above worked, I'm so troubled by this :( – Ravenna

@shogun The code in your update only works because you're lucky: You use the constant string "True" in both places, so the reference comparison works (as constants, they occupy the same memory location). The one from the DB has a different memory address, so the reference comparison fails. But I'll say it again: why not just use booleans? That type is perfect for this siutation. – Pointdevice

@Pointdevice when I try using booleans it said operand cannot compare object with boolean... EDIT: OK using false.Equals() or true.Equals() seems to work but not ViewData[] == true, etc – Ravenna