The error means that you're navigating to a view whose model is declared as typeof Foo (by using @model Foo), but you actually passed it a model which is typeof Bar (note the term dictionary is used because a model is passed to the view via a ViewDataDictionary).
The error can be caused by
Passing the wrong model from a controller method to a view (or partial view)
Common examples include using a query that creates an anonymous object (or collection of anonymous objects) and passing it to the view
var model = db.Foos.Select(x => new
{
ID = x.ID,
Name = x.Name
};
return View(model); // passes an anonymous object to a view declared with @model Foo
or passing a collection of objects to a view that expect a single object
var model = db.Foos.Where(x => x.ID == id);
return View(model); // passes IEnumerable<Foo> to a view declared with @model Foo
The error can be easily identified at compile time by explicitly declaring the model type in the controller to match the model in the view rather than using var.
Passing the wrong model from a view to a partial view
Given the following model
public class Foo
{
public Bar MyBar { get; set; }
}
and a main view declared with @model Foo and a partial view declared with @model Bar, then
Foo model = db.Foos.Where(x => x.ID == id).Include(x => x.Bar).FirstOrDefault();
return View(model);
will return the correct model to the main view. However the exception will be thrown if the view includes
@Html.Partial("_Bar") // or @{ Html.RenderPartial("_Bar"); }
By default, the model passed to the partial view is the model declared in the main view and you need to use
@Html.Partial("_Bar", Model.MyBar) // or @{ Html.RenderPartial("_Bar", Model.MyBar); }
to pass the instance of Bar to the partial view. Note also that if the value of MyBar is null (has not been initialized), then by default Foo will be passed to the partial, in which case, it needs to be
@Html.Partial("_Bar", new Bar())
Declaring a model in a layout
If a layout file includes a model declaration, then all views that use that layout must declare the same model, or a model that derives from that model.
If you want to include the html for a separate model in a Layout, then in the Layout, use @Html.Action(...) to call a [ChildActionOnly] method initializes that model and returns a partial view for it.