ASP.NET MVC - add to a viewmodel list and submit - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have an ASP.NET MVC program with an order/odc request form. I have a customer, order and order item model. What I want to do is allow the user to place an order for a list of items to be approved. I have the viewmodel being passed to the form/view with a few fields including a list of order item objects. I am able to dynamically add rows to the table which shows the list of order items but on submit there is nothing in the viewmodel list. What am I doing wrong? How do I pass the items entered into the table to the view so that I can submit to the database?
Controller
public ActionResult NewOdc()
{
var viewModel = new NewOdcViewModel()
{
OdcItems = new List<tblOdcItem>()
};
viewModel.OdcItems.Add(new tblOdcItem());
return View(viewModel);
}
I call this code from jQuery to add a new item to the list:
public ActionResult GetView(string rowCount)
{
tblOdcItem item = new tblOdcItem();
return PartialView("_OdcItemEditor", item);
}
And on submit I call this code:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult NewOdcSubmit(NewOdcViewModel viewModel)
{
_context.tblOdcs.Add(new tblOdc());
...
I'm using a foreach to go through the list and create a partial for each item.
View:
#using (Html.BeginForm("NewOdcSubmit", "Odc", FormMethod.Post))
{
if (Model != null)
{
#Html.HiddenFor(m => m.OdcItems);
}
<div class="panel panel-info">
<div class="panel-heading">
<h2 class="panel-title">Enter New ODC</h2>
</div>
<div class="panel-body">
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<div class="form-group">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.User.UserName, new { #class = "col-md-2 col-sm-1 control-label" })
<div class="col-md-2 col-sm-3">
#Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.User.UserName, new { #Value = ((PM_Portal2020.Models.tblUser)Session["User"]).UserName, #readonly = true })
</div>
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.User.Phone, new { #class = "col-md-2 col-sm-1 control-label" })
<div class="col-md-2 col-sm-3">
#Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.User.Phone, new { #Value = ((PM_Portal2020.Models.tblUser)Session["User"]).Phone })
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group col-md-10 col-sm-12">
<label>Expenses</label>
<table id="submissionTable" class="table table-bordered">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Qty</th>
<th>Description</th>
<th>Estimated Cost</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
#foreach (PM_Portal2020.Models.tblOdcItem item in Model.OdcItems)
{
#Html.Partial("_OdcItemEditor", item)
}
</tbody>
</table>
<p>
<button id="add" type="button" class="btn btn-primary">Add</button>
</p>
</div>
<div class="form-group col-lg-10 col-sm-12">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Details, new { #class = "col-md-2 col-sm-1 control-label" })
<div class="">
#Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.Details, new { #class = "form-control" })
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="panel-footer">
<div class="">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-success">Save</button>
#Html.ActionLink("Back", "Index")
</div>
</div>
</div>
}
PartialView in Shared folder:
#model PM_Portal2020.Models.tblOdcItem
<tr #Html.Id("tablerow" + Model.ID)>
<td>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Quantity, new { #class = "text-box single-line", name = "Quantity[" + Model.ID + "]", type = "text", value = "", required = "required" })
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Description, new { #class = "text-box single-line", name = "Description[" + Model.ID + "]", type = "text", value = "", required = "required", id = "itemDesc" })
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.EstimatedCost, new { #class = "text-box single-line", name = "EstimatedCost[" + Model.ID + "]", type = "text", value = "", required = "required" })
</div>
</td>
<td>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-primary" onclick="removeTr(this);">
<span class="glyphicon glyphicon-trash"></span>
</button>
</td>
</tr>
View Model
public class NewOdcViewModel
{
public NewOdcViewModel()
{
}
public IList<tblOdcItem> OdcItems { get; set; }
public string Details { get; set; }
public int OdcId { get; set; }
public tblUser User { get; set; }
}
It submits to the controller but the odcitems list is always count = 0. Any help would be great. Thanks

Answer 1

Here is the javascript example, just use this function on add/delete operation to re-arrange name.
function RearangeName(){
var i = 0;
$("#submissionTable>tbody>tr").each(function () {
$(this).find("input").each(function () {
if ($(this).prop("name").indexOf('Quantity') > 0) {
$(this).attr('name', "OdcItems[" + i + "].Quantity");
}
if ($(this).prop("name").indexOf('Description') > 0) {
$(this).attr('name', "OdcItems[" + i + "].Description");
}
if ($(this).prop("name").indexOf('EstimatedCost') > 0) {
$(this).attr('name', "OdcItems[" + i + "].EstimatedCost");
}
});
i++;
});
}

Answer 2

the name should be matched with model property, so in partial view, you have set name as OdcItems[0].Quantity instead of Quantity[" + Model.ID + "].
#Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Quantity, new { #class = "text-box single-line", name = "OdcItems[0].Quantity", type = "text", value = "", required = "required" })
eg.
OdcItems[0].Quantity
OdcItems[1].Quantity
OdcItems[2].Quantity
....
OdcItems[n].Quantity