Get categories from EPiServer block

The blocks in EPiServer include the Category property but the BlockData object does not expose any category property in code. The solution is to cast the BlockData object to ICategorizable.

(currentBlock as ICategorizable).Category

A typical usage scenario for me would be to fetch what I need in the controller and put it in the ViewModel.

public class ParallaxNavigationBlockController : BlockController<ParallaxNavigationBlock>
{
    public override ActionResult Index(ParallaxNavigationBlock currentBlock)
    {
        var model = new ParallaxNavigationViewModel
        {
            Category = (currentBlock as ICategorizable).Category.GetCategories().FirstOrDefault()
        };

        return PartialView(model);
    }
}

// ViewModel
public class ParallaxNavigationViewModel
{
    public Category Category { get; set; }
}

// Extension method for categories
public static IEnumerable<Category> GetCategories(this CategoryList categoryList)
{
    CategoryRepository categoryRepository = ServiceLocator.Current.GetInstance<CategoryRepository>();
    return categoryList.Select(x => categoryRepository.Get(x));
}