public RedirectToActionResult GenerateModelObjects(string messageTitle, string topic, string userName, string password, string passwordConfirmed,
                                                           string messageContent)
        {
            User        newUser;
            Message     newMessage;
            List <User> listOfUsers = UserList.GetListOfUsers;
            bool        userExists  = false;

            foreach (User u in listOfUsers)
            {
                //checking database to user if the username already exists
                if (u.Username == userName)
                {
                    userExists = true;  //this means that the user has been found in the "database"
                }
            }
            //sets topic to the appropriate input string for the model
            if (topic == "generalChat")
            {
                topic = "general";
            }
            else
            {
                topic = "starwars";
            }
            if (userExists != true)
            {
                //assumes that user does not exist in "database"
                //build a user
                //add user to user list
                //build a message
                //add to messaging history of the user
                //add message to messsage board
                newUser    = new User(userName, password);
                newMessage = new Message(messageTitle, messageContent, userName, topic);
                newUser.AddMessageToHistory(newMessage);
                UserList.AddNewUser(newUser);
                MessageBoard.addMessageToBoard(topic, newMessage);
            }
            else
            {
                //assumes that the user already exists in the database
                //build message
                //add to message history of the user

                /*
                 *  this is done by passing the desired username into the FindUser method in the userlist static class
                 *  the method will return either -1, meaning the user was not found, or the index of the element the user exists in
                 */
                //add message to message board
                newMessage = new Message(messageTitle, messageContent, userName, topic);
                UserList.ModifyUserMessageHistory(userName, "add", newMessage);
                MessageBoard.addMessageToBoard(topic, newMessage);
            }
            return(RedirectToAction("Index"));
        }