Validation between controllers - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have a HomeController with an Index.cshtml Razor view that uses an InitialChoicesViewModel with validation attributes. The Index view contains the following form:
#using (Html.BeginForm("CreateCharacter", "DistributePoints", FormMethod.Get))
This goes to a different controller (which is what I want):
public class DistributePointsController : Controller
{
public ActionResult CreateCharacter(/* my form parameters */)
// ...
}
How do I perform server-side validation on the form (such as checking ModelState.IsValid), returning my original Index view with a correct ValidationSummary on error? (On success I want to return the CreateCharacter view of the other controller.)
Based on John H's answer, I resolved this as follows:
#using (Html.BeginForm("CreateCharacter", "Home"))
HomeController:
[HttpPost]
// Only some of the model fields are posted, along with an additional name field.
public ActionResult CreateCharacter(InitialChoicesViewModel model, string name)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
return RedirectToAction("CreateCharacter", "DistributePoints",
new {name, model.Level, model.UseAdvancedPointSystem});
}
// Unsure how to post a collection - easier to reload from repository.
model.ListOfStuff = _repository.GetAll().ToList();
return View("Index", model);
}
I had to add a parameterless constructor to my view model, too.

Answer 1

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult CreateCharacter(InitialChoicesViewModel model)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
return RedirectToAction("SomeSuccessfulaction");
return View("~/Views/Home/Index.cshtml", model);
}
The ~/ denotes the relative root of your site.
The code above complies with the Post-Redirect-Get pattern, in order to prevent some types of duplicate form submission problems. It does that by redirecting to a separate action when the form submission is successful, and by returning the current view, complete with ModelState information, on error.

Answer 2

By default, ASP.NET MVC checks first in \Views\[Controller_Dir]\, but after that, if it doesn't find the view, it checks in \Views\Shared.
If you do return View("~/Views/Wherever/SomeDir/MyView.aspx") You can return any View you'd like.
But for now in your case, try the following
public ActionResult CreateCharacter(SomeModel model)
{
if(!ModelState.IsValid){
return View("~/Views/Home/Index.cshtml", model )
}
return View();
}

Answer 3

To check your ModelState just use an if statement in Controller:
if(ModelState.IsValid)
{
...
}
If there is any error add you can add an error message to the ModelState Dictionary like this:
ModelState.AddModelError("Somethings failed", ErrorCodeToString(e.StatusCode));
After that return your same View and pass it to your model
return View(model);
If you add "#Html.ValidationSummary()" in your View, it will get the errors from the ModelState Dictionary and display them.But if you show values yourself maybe with different styles you can do it manually, take a look at this question
And if there is no error you can return your CreateCharacter View like this, just redirect user to the appropriate action:
return RedirectToAction("CreateCharacter","DistributePoints");