I am trying to implement dataTables plugin in server-side mode to render a table on my webpage. I am coding ASP.NET with c# and MVC.
I want to edit (delete/update/add) data to the table and write any change to my database.
But in difference to the example of this tutorial: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/165410/ASP-NET-MVC-Editable-DataTable-jQuery-DataTables-a data provided by my controller does not contain a single primary key, but a compound key:
projectId and
questionId
Here's my controller, which provides data from my database:
public ActionResult AjaxHandler(jQueryDataTableParamModel param)
{
var any = (from pq in _db.ProjectQuestions
join q in _db.Question
on pq.QuestionID equals q.QuestionID
join c in _db.Category
on q.CategoryID equals c.CategoryID
select new
{
projectID = pq.ProjectID,
questionID = q.QuestionID,
categoryName = c.CategoryName,
questionName = q.QuestionName,
questionDescription = q.QuestionDescription
});
int count = any.Count();
var result = new List<object[]>();
return Json(new
{
sEcho = param.sEcho,
iTotalRecords = count,
iTotalDisplayRecords = count,
aaData = any
},
JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
So far the standard DeleteData/UpdateData and AddData methods dont even receive any value for id.
public string DeleteData(int id)
{
return "ok";
}
How can I use the CRUD-functionality of Editable if my data has to be identified by two parameters?
So far I couldn't find any solution to edit data. Many thanks in advance.
_tek
I would suggest you to use Grid view function.
Please follow this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZIOI136IKY
Related
I posted the question earlier, but didn't receive any correct responses, hence posting again with some edits. I have a function that accepts two parameters, IDs and Dates. When I had put breakpoints, I was able to see the Ids and the Dates selected on the page as parameter values. However, after hitting the process button, nothing happens, meaning this data isn't getting saved to the DB.
Model Classes:
public class Hello{
public string ID{ get; set; }
[DataType(DataType.Date)]
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:yyyy-MM-dd}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime? Date{ get; set; }
}
Controller Class:
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Selection(string ids, string dates)
{
model = new Hello();
ExtensionDB db = new ExtensionDB();
string[] IDS = ids.Split(',');
string[] DATES = dates.Split(',');
List<Hello> list = new List<Hello>();
for (int i = 0; i < IDS.Length; i++)
{
if (IDS[i] != null && IDS[i] != "")
{
Hello item = new Hello { ID = IDS[i], Date = DateTime.Parse(DATES[i]) };
list.Add(item);
}
}
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
foreach (var row in db.Table1)
{
foreach (var row2 in db.Table2)
{
if (row.UID== row2.CID) // UID and CID are Foreign keys that join these two tables
{
foreach (var item in list)
{
if (row.UID == Convert.ToInt32(item.ID))
{
row2.ReportedDate = item.Date;
}
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
}
}
ViewBag.Message = "Success";
return View(model);
}
else
{
ViewBag.Message = "Failed";
return View(model);
}
}
I will add the view class if needed, however the problem is here.. You can also refer to it here: Saving changes to the DB MVC
Your code does not attempt to update anything. Start with confirming what the data you are passing to this POST call contains, and what you want to do with it. It looks like what you are trying to do is update the dates for a number of records. Looking at your previous post (no need to re-post another question with the same code) there are a few things..
First: Structure the data you want to pass to the POST call into a collection of simple objects containing an id and a date. For example:
{
id = rid,
date = date
}
and add those to the collection named something like "updateData" rather than two separate arrays of IDs and dates. Then in the server-side code, declare a simple view model class:
public class UpdateDateViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
}
In the ajax call instead of:
data: { ids: ids, dates: dates },
you'll want something like:
data: { updates: updateData },
where updateData is your collection of id + date pairs.
and use that view model in your method:
public ActionResult Process(IList updates)
Provided that request data is sent as Json, ASP.Net should translate that data automatically for you, though you may need to configure ASP.Net to translate the camelCase vs PascalCase. Worst case, to test, you can use camelCase property names ("id" and "date")
Now when it comes to updating the data: Server side, please get in the habit of using meaningful variable names, not "c", "i", etc. It makes code a lot easier to understand.
public ActionResult Process(IList<UpdateDateViewModel> updates)
{
using (db = new DB())
{
//rp = new RequestProcess(); - Assuming RequestProcess is an Entity?
//var c = rp.getStuff(); - No idea what this getStuff() method does...
foreach(var update in updates)
{
var request = db.RequestProcesses.Find(update.Id);
if (request != null)
request.RequestDate = update.Date; // If we find a matching request, update it's date.
else
{ // Doesn't exist, create it and add it to the DbSet.(table)
var request = new RequestProcess { Id = update.Id, RequestDate = update.Date };
db.RequestProcesses.Add(request);
}
db.SaveChanges();
}
}
}
Now this is a very bare bones guess at what you may be trying to do. Ideally though, updates should be completely separate from adds in the sense that an update should only deal with existing records. If it comes across an ID that it cannot find it should throw an error, ignore, and/or return a status to the user that something wasn't right. Creating new entries should be a separate call and ensure that records are properly initialized with their required fields.
Your original code looked to be taking a list of IDs, but then creating a new entity and calling that "getStuff" method that didn't have the DbContext, or any of the values from the POST call, but then attempting to copy values from that entity into the string parameters that you passed (which would overwrite the Json string) None of that would have updated an entity which would never have updated your data.
Take it slow and follow the examples before attempting to adapt them to your ideas. It will be a lot more constructive and less frustrating then writing a bunch of code that doesn't really make much sense, then wondering why it doesn't work. Your original code has probably a dozen or more problems and inefficiencies. Simply pasting it up on Stack will get a lot of confusing comments based on these problems which don't really help with the first issue you want to solve. Strip it back to the minimum, start with getting the data you need to the server in a meaningful way, then from that, attempt to use that data to update your entities.
The project I am working is 'University Management System' and it's a big one. Right now, I am implementing the student registration section that works fine (A small portion of the project). I've used 'Three-Tier Architecture' and 'ORM - EF' in ASP.NET MVC template. In the project, I need to do some validations for registering students depending upon their year, department etc. So there are sections like DAL, BLL, finally controller and view. I've done the validations in the controller and getting the data from BLL that again retrieves data from DAL (This is the simple condition of 'Three-Tier Architecture'). So my questions are:
1) Is it OK to do the validations in the controller?
2) If not and need to do it in the BLL, will it be just fine and why or I can
continue doing it in the controller?
Note: To me, doing the validations in the controller or BLL seems OK and the same. Does it have any effect?
Right now, I've done the following:
DAL:
public List<Student> Add(int studentID, string studentName, string email, DateTime regDate)
{
List<Student> lst = null;
Student aStudent = new Student();
aStudent.StudentID = studentID;
aStudent.StudentName = studentName;
aStudent.Email = email;
aStudent.RegDate = regDate;
try
{
db.Students.Add(aStudent);
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
ex.ToString();
}
return lst;
}
BLL:
public List<Student> Add(int studentID, string studentName, string email, DateTime regDate)
{
return aStudentGateway.Add(studentID, studentName, email, regDate);
}
Controller:
/**Student Registration - Starts**/
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult AddStudent(Student aStudent)
{
List<Department> departments = aDepartmentManager.GetAllDepartments();
List<DepartmentViewModel> departmentsViewModel = aDepartmentManager.GetAllDepartmentViewModel();
DateTime yearInDateTime = Convert.ToDateTime(Request.Form["RegDate"]);
string extractYear = yearInDateTime.ToString();
var year = DateTime.Parse(extractYear).Year;
int department = Convert.ToInt32(Request.Form["Department"]);
List<Student> studentList = aStudentManager.GetAllStudents();
int count = 1;
var query = (from c in studentList
where c.Department == department && c.Year == year
select c).ToList();
foreach (var c in query)
{
if (query.Count() > 0)
{
int m = Convert.ToInt32(c.StudentID);
count = m + 1; //Incrementing the numbers by one with the table column
}
else
{
int m = 1;
count = m + 1; //Incrementing the numbers by one with the variable assigned one
}
}
Student student = new Student();
student.StudentName = Request.Form["StudentName"];
student.Email = Request.Form["Email"];
student.RegDate = Convert.ToDateTime(Request.Form["RegDate"]);
student.StudentID = count;
if (aStudentManager.ExistEmailAny(student.Email))
{
ViewBag.ErrorMessage = "Email already exists";
}
else
{
aStudentManager.Add(aStudent.StudentID, aStudent.StudentName, aStudent.Email, aStudent.RegDate);
ViewBag.Message = "Registration successful. See below to verify.";
/**This section used to show student details after registration**/
var result = (from c in departments
join d in departmentsViewModel on c.DepartmentID equals d.DepartmentId
where d.DepartmentId == department
select c);
foreach (var items in result)
{
if (count.ToString().Length > 1)
{
ViewBag.StudentID = items.Code + "-" + year + "-" + "0" + count;
}
else
{
ViewBag.StudentID = items.Code + "-" + year + "-" + "00" + count;
}
StudentViewModel.StudentID = student.StudentID;
StudentViewModel.StudentName = student.StudentName;
StudentViewModel.Email = student.Email;
StudentViewModel.RegDate = student.RegDate;
}
/**This section used to show student details after registration**/
}
return View();
}
/**Student Registration - Ends**/
I would provide multiple steps of validation in the different layers, depending on the context and the meaning of the layer.
First, it's a best practice to provide validation both on client and server side.
For the client side you should provide field checks for required fields and other simple validations. If you are using MVC you can use data annotations.
The same validation should be replicated in the controller. Here you should fail fast applying some kind of contract to the parameters that have been passed. One good practice is using Code Contracts that provide preconditions that need to be satisfied to go on in your pipeline of execution.
In the business layer provide the check that needs to be done in the business logic.
Finally in the data access layer provide all the checks that are needed to persist your data. If you are using EF a good practice is implementing the IValidatableObject for your entity classes. Here in Scott Gu's blog you can find a post that explains this technique.
Even though this approach look like it will introduce repetitions, it will provide consistency in your data and separate concerns between your layers.
1) Is it OK to do the validations in the controller?
No at all, it would be more better to use Data Annotation Validator Attributes, and to do validation in your model class.
Second thing, you're doing some stuff of DAL in your controller, like
List<Department> departments = aDepartmentManager.GetAllDepartments();
List<DepartmentViewModel> departmentsViewModel = aDepartmentManager.GetAllDepartmentViewModel();
var query = (from c in studentList
where c.Department == department && c.Year == year
select c).ToList();
These all queries should be in DAL, which is exact use of DAL to interact with the database, and keep your controller clean.
Third thing,
If you pass Student to the controller, then not need to get each attribute using Request.Form.
Hope this make sense!
I am using jqgrid (standard) with EF 4 + MVC3. I'd like to implement excel export and if possible using the same action controller used to populate the grid.
I wonder if is it possible / logical to pass an additional parameter, for example. Which method you would suggest me?
I ask this question because I am still approaching to implement excel export and I'd like to optimize / re-use code, if possible.
To generate excel, I'd like to use this library by Dr Stephen Walther, which has three types of output and allows to define headers too. Please tell me if you find it valid for my purpose.
About the jqgrid code, I found this interesting answer by Oleg, but I do not understand if could be applied to my needs.
Unfortunately, by now I only found parts of solutions for excel export with EF MVC, but no solution or complete examples...
Here's the _Index partial view containing my jqgrid
<table id="mygrid"></table>
<div id="pager2"></div>
jQuery("#mygrid").jqGrid({
url:'controller/jqIndex',
datatype: "json",
colNames:['id','field1', ...],
colModel:[
{name:'id',index:'id', width:55},
{name:'field1',index:'field1', width:90},
...
],
rowNum:10,
rowList:[10,20,30],
pager: '#pager2',
sortname: 'id',
viewrecords: true,
sortorder: "desc",
caption:"modal jquery + jqgrid test"});
jQuery("#list2").jqGrid('navGrid','#pager2',{edit:false,add:false,del:false});
//TODO
???
...some code to call the controller action with the `excel` parameter set `true`
CONTROLLER (BASED ON OLEG'S IMPLEMENTATION)
public ActionResult jqIndex(string sidx, string sord, int page, int rows, bool _search, string filters, bool excel) // note the excel parameter <<
{
var context = new TManagerContext();
var objectContext = context.ObjectContext();
var set = objectContext.CreateObjectSet<Ticket>();
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
Filters f = (!_search || string.IsNullOrEmpty(filters)) ? null : serializer.Deserialize<Filters>(filters);
ObjectQuery<Ticket> filteredQuery = (f == null ? (set) : f.FilterObjectSet(set));
filteredQuery.MergeOption = MergeOption.NoTracking; // we don't want to update the data
int totalRecords = filteredQuery.Count();
var pagedQuery = filteredQuery.Skip("it." + sidx + " " + sord, "#skip",
new ObjectParameter("skip", (page - 1) * rows))
.Top("#limit", new ObjectParameter("limit", rows));
int pageIndex = Convert.ToInt32(page) - 1;
int pageSize = rows;
int totalPages = (int)Math.Ceiling((float)totalRecords / (float)pageSize);
var queryDetails = (from e in pagedQuery
select new
{
e.TicketID,
e.field1,
...
}).ToList();
var result = new
{
total = totalPages,
page = page,
records = totalRecords,
rows = (from e in queryDetails
select new
{
id = e.TicketID,
cell = new string[]
{
e.field1,
...
}
}).ToArray()
};
if (excel) {
ExportExcel(result); // if possible, pass filter parameters too, column order, etc...
}
return Json(result, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
Please sorry if the question could be silly, I am just a (enthusiast) beginner.
Thanks for your precious help!
Best Regards
Larry - A few comments.
You shouldn't be doing that much logic in your controller. Move all
of that business logic to another class/service. Then your action
method would be just a few lines. A quick example
public JsonResult jqIndex(string sidx, string sord, int page, int rows,
bool _search, string filters){
return JSON(this.GridQueryService.GetJQGrid(sidx,sord,page,rows,_search,filters), JsosnRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
2.I know you don't want to repeat code (which point 1 helps) but there are many parameters and things here that simply do not apply to Excel (page, rows).
3.Passing boolean parameters to change how things function can get messy fast. Lets assume that you now need to pass more/less data to the Excel file, now you have nested conditions all over the place and Unit Testing would just be crappy.
4.An excel action method will should have a FileResult return type, not a
JSON result (I guess they are all action results, but this makes your intention all the more clear in your code. Your definition should be something like
public FileResult GetExcelFile(string sidx, string sord, bool _search,
string filters){
//do stuff to return Excel
}
If you create your Service in point one in such a way that you have two methods that return different items, but share a common query/search base function, then you are really staying Dry while following the Single Responsibility Principle. An example of this service might be (very rough example, should give you some things to think about):
public class GridQueryService{
public YourViewModel GetJQGrid(sidx, page, row, _search, filters){
//Get the base data
var myData = this.GetGridData(sidx, _search, filters);
//Create your view model and return it back to controller
}
public StreamWriter GetExcelFIle(sidx, _search, filters){
//Get the base data
var myData = this.GetGridData(sidx, _search, filters);
//Create your Excel file and return it to the controller
}
private ObjectQuery<Ticket> GetGridData(string sidx, bool _search, string filters){
//do your data grabbing here - you never return the raw data back to anything outside
//of this service, so it should be ok to make private
}
}
I am using a MooTools TextboxList in my MVC app to create an autocomplete Tag suggester, similar to the StackOverflow one.
The script uses Json to do the suggestions. The Json string it seems to expect is different than I am able to generate. From the script's demo, it should look something like this:
[[32,"Science",null,null]]
But I can't figure out how to get the string to come out of MVC quite like that. Best I get looks more like:
[{"id":11,"text":"Science"}]
With the actual field names showing up.
Here is my controller method:
public JsonResult Suggest(string search)
{
JsonResult jsonresult = new JsonResult();
var tags = from t in db.Tags
where t.Text.Contains(search)
select new {id=t.TagID, text=t.Text};
var result = DoSomethingTo(tags); // <---????????
jsonresult.Data = result;
jsonresult.JsonRequestBehavior = JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet;
return jsonresult;
}
I've tried several variations of passing variables into the JsonResult.Data without much luck. I've tried arrays, custom objects, etc. I'm just not getting it. I'm certain it's very
Edit: That should have said "I'm certain it's very easy."
It's an array of arrays of objects. You could generate it like this:
return Json(new[] { new object[] { 32, "Science", null, null } });
and within your select action you could try something along the lines of:
public ActionResult Suggest(string search)
{
var tags = from t in db.Tags
where t.Text.Contains(search)
select new object[] { t.TagID, t.Text };
return Json(tags.ToList(), JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
Based on another question, I ended up going old-school on it... building the string manually.
public ContentResult Suggest(string search)
{
var tags = from t in db.Tags
where t.Text.Contains(search)
orderby (t.Text)
select t;
var builder = new StringBuilder();
builder.Append("[");
foreach (Tag tag in tags)
builder.AppendFormat("[{0}, \"{1}\", null, null]", tag.TagID, tag.Text);
var result = builder.ToString().TrimEnd(new char[] { ',', ' ' }) + "]";
ContentResult res = new ContentResult();
res.Content = result;
return res;
}
Problem
Need to convert int to string using EF4 + SQL CE4. The recommended option of using SqlFunctions.StringConvert(double) still gives me errors.
Option 1 (original). This gives me error:
public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> xxGetCustomerList()
{
using (DatabaseEntities db = new DatabaseEntities())
{
var list = from l in db.Customers
orderby l.CompanyName
select new SelectListItem { Value = l.CustomerID.ToString(), Text = l.CompanyName };
return list.ToList();
}
}
Option 2 (most suggested). Then as many posts suggests, I used the SqlFunctions.StringConvert() function from the library System.Data.Objects.SqlClient:
public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GetCustomerList()
{
using (DatabaseEntities db = new DatabaseEntities())
{
var list = from l in db.Customers
orderby l.CompanyName
select new SelectListItem { Value = SqlFunctions.StringConvert((double)l.CustomerID), Text = l.CompanyName };
return list.ToList();
}
}
Which now shows below error:
The specified method 'System.String StringConvert(System.Nullable`1[System.Double])' on the type 'System.Data.Objects.SqlClient.SqlFunctions' cannot be translated into a LINQ to Entities store expression.
Option 3 (for very specific case). Then anoter post shows a smart solution using Dictionary, which finally works:
public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> xGetCustomerList()
{
using (DatabaseEntities db = new DatabaseEntities())
{
var customers = db.Customers.ToDictionary(k => k.CustomerID, k => k.CompanyName);
var list = from l in customers
orderby l.Value
select new SelectListItem { Value = l.Key.ToString(), Text = l.Value };
return list.ToList();
}
}
But only work for simple pair values (key, value). Can someone help me with another solution or what I'm doing wrong with option 2?
And I hope Microsoft will soon make EF right before pushing us to move from L2S which is already stable and much more mature. I actually using EF4 just because want to use SQL CE, otherwise I stay with L2S.
EF is database independent at upper layers but the part dealing with conversion of linq query to SQL is always database dependent and SqlFunctions are dependent on SQL Server Provider but you are using SQL Server CE provider which is not able to translate functions from SqlFunctions class.
Btw. third option is also not a solution because it will select whole customer table to memory and use linq-to-objects after that. You should use this:
public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> xxGetCustomerList()
{
using (DatabaseEntities db = new DatabaseEntities())
{
// Linq to entities query
var query = from l in db.Customers
orderby l.CompanyName
select new { l.CustomerID, l.CompanyName };
// Result of linq to entities transformed by linq to objects
return query.AsEnumerable()
.Select(x => new SelectListItem
{
Value = x.CustomerID.ToString(),
Test = x.CompanyName
}).ToList();
}
}
Here is a simplified version I'm using now (specific for SQL CE):
public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> GetBlogCategoryList()
{
using (SiteDataContext db = new SiteDataContext())
{
var list = from l in db.BlogCategories.AsEnumerable()
orderby l.CategoryName
select new SelectListItem { Value = l.CategoryID.ToString(), Text = l.CategoryName };
return list.ToList();
}
}
Note the db.BlogCategories.AsEnumerable() part