.Net MVC4 Action Method parameter is null from jqGrid post - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have looked through many posts on this subject but so far I haven't resolved my problem. I am new to MVC / Jquery so I may have missed the answer.
I wish to return all rows from a jqGrid. I have used Oleg's example code for the jqGrid processing:
sendData = function (data) {
var dataToSend = JSON.stringify(data);
alert("The following data are sending to the server:\n" + dataToSend);
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '#Url.Action("Update", "WatchList")',
dataType: "json",
data: dataToSend,
loadonce: true,
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
success: function (response, textStatus, jqXHR) {
// remove error div if exist
$('#' + grid[0].id + '_err').remove();
alert("Updates Complete");
},
error: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
// remove error div if exist
$('#' + grid[0].id + '_err').remove();
// insert div with the error description before the grid
grid.closest('div.ui-jqgrid').before(
'<div id="' + grid[0].id + '_err" style="max-width:' + grid[0].style.width +
';"><div class="ui-state-error ui-corner-all" style="padding:0.7em;float:left;"><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-alert" ' +
'style="float:left; margin-right: .3em;"></span><span style="clear:left">' +
decodeErrorMessage(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) + '</span></div><div style="clear:left"/></div>');
}
$("#sendAll").click(function () {
var localGridData = grid.jqGrid('getGridParam', 'data');
sendData(localGridData);
});
};
Fiddler output for the post is :
POST http://localhost:49323/WatchList/Update HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:49323
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; WOW64; rv:19.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/19.0
Accept: application/json, text/javascript, */*; q=0.01
Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
X-Requested-With: XMLHttpRequest
Referer: http://localhost:49323/WatchList/Edit
Content-Length: 3645
Cookie: __RequestVerificationToken=flUoW7U12gHRfOVMNiLu_tW4G_oVI4TwxvAYKOU9arGI014KWFKUKjUbgjbZStLb7n1TGmU22NtoQjAb26bmjcccjg8x6skcL1zbP_o2y5I1; .ASPXAUTH=D968251D718DEF7CA0C9D4A6BD2750F9923CBF554FC0B058772C753C4305682578C207F7367B6D61F80F84CBDCA5C130126AE2CC5E1715FA897122DEB68B3B40C86816C32A6F047891794A732F4A7A3499064220077793B5F1313813FFC21D01
Connection: keep-alive
Pragma: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-cache
[{"Date":"Fri 22 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"0"},{"Date":"Sat 23 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"1"},{"Date":"Sun 24 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"2"},{"Date":"Mon 25 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"3"},{"Date":"Tue 26 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"4"},{"Date":"Wed 27 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"5"},{"Date":"Thu 28 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"6"},{"Date":"Fri 29 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"7"},{"Date":"Sat 30 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"8"},{"Date":"Sun 31 March 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"9"},{"Date":"Mon 1 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"10"},{"Date":"Tue 2 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"11"},{"Date":"Wed 3 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"12"},{"Date":"Thu 4 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"13"},{"Date":"Fri 5 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"14"},{"Date":"Sat 6 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"15"},{"Date":"Sun 7 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"16"},{"Date":"Mon 8 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"17"},{"Date":"Tue 9 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"18"},{"Date":"Wed 10 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"19"},{"Date":"Thu 11 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"20"},{"Date":"Fri 12 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"21"},{"Date":"Sat 13 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"22"},{"Date":"Sun 14 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"23"},{"Date":"Mon 15 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"24"},{"Date":"Tue 16 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"25"},{"Date":"Wed 17 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"26"},{"Date":"Thu 18 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"27"},{"Date":"Fri 19 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"28"},{"Date":"Sat 20 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"29"},{"Date":"Sun 21 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"30"},{"Date":"Mon 22 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"31"},{"Date":"Tue 23 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"32"}]
The parameter received by the controller is null? I don't have a model to bring the data directly into as the grids columns are dynamically created so I need to parse the raw data. What do I need in my controller action to get hold of the post data?

Answer 1

Your change must be close because the data is now being recognised but with the error
Invalid JSON primitive: griddata.]
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.ArgumentException: Invalid JSON primitive: griddata.
[ArgumentException: Invalid JSON primitive: griddata.]
System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptObjectDeserializer.DeserializePrimitiveObject() +915
System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptObjectDeserializer.DeserializeInternal(Int32 depth) +597
System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptObjectDeserializer.BasicDeserialize(String input, Int32 depthLimit, JavaScriptSerializer serializer) +108
System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.Deserialize(JavaScriptSerializer serializer, String input, Type type, Int32 depthLimit) +211
System.Web.Script.Serialization.JavaScriptSerializer.DeserializeObject(String input) +86
System.Web.Mvc.JsonValueProviderFactory.GetDeserializedObject(ControllerContext controllerContext) +298
System.Web.Mvc.JsonValueProviderFactory.GetValueProvider(ControllerContext controllerContext) +123
System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClassc.<GetValueProvider>b__7(ValueProviderFactory factory) +59
System.Linq.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext() +145
System.Linq.WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2.MoveNext() +171
System.Collections.Generic.List`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 collection) +460
System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList(IEnumerable`1 source) +58
System.Web.Mvc.ValueProviderFactoryCollection.GetValueProvider(ControllerContext controllerContext) +360
System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase.get_ValueProvider() +85
System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.GetParameterValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, ParameterDescriptor parameterDescriptor) +154
System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.GetParameterValues(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor) +199
System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass25.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState) +978
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +161
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +92
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag) +53
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.BeginInvokeAction(ControllerContext controllerContext, String actionName, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +523
System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass1d.<BeginExecuteCore>b__17(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState) +83
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +161
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +92
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +97
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag) +53
System.Web.Mvc.Controller.BeginExecuteCore(AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +501
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +161
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +92
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +97
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag) +53
System.Web.Mvc.Controller.BeginExecute(RequestContext requestContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +417
System.Web.Mvc.Controller.System.Web.Mvc.Async.IAsyncController.BeginExecute(RequestContext requestContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +49
System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass8.<BeginProcessRequest>b__2(AsyncCallback asyncCallback, Object asyncState) +127
System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, Int32 timeout) +161
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate`1 endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +92
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag, Int32 timeout) +97
System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.Begin(AsyncCallback callback, Object state, BeginInvokeDelegate beginDelegate, EndInvokeDelegate endDelegate, Object tag) +53
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContextBase httpContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +373
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext httpContext, AsyncCallback callback, Object state) +88
System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.BeginProcessRequest(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb, Object extraData) +50
System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +301
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +155
I have noticed that if I use the original code:
data: dataToSend,
the post data shows in Fiddler as :
[{"Date":"Fri 29 March 2013","id":"0"},{"Date":"Sat 30 March 2013","id":"1"},{"Date":"Sun 31 March 2013","id":"2"},{"Date":"Mon 1 April 2013","id":"3"},{"Date":"Tue 2 April 2013","id":"4"},{"Date":"Wed 3 April 2013","id":"5"},{"Date":"Thu 4 April 2013","id":"6"},{"Date":"Fri 5 April 2013","id":"7"},{"Date":"Sat 6 April 2013","id":"8"},{"Date":"Sun 7 April 2013","id":"9"},{"Date":"Mon 8 April 2013","id":"10"},{"Date":"Tue 9 April 2013","id":"11"},{"Date":"Wed 10 April 2013","id":"12"},{"Date":"Thu 11 April 2013","id":"13"},{"Date":"Fri 12 April 2013","id":"14"},{"Date":"Sat 13 April 2013","id":"15"},{"Date":"Sun 14 April 2013","id":"16"},{"Date":"Mon 15 April 2013","id":"17"},{"Date":"Tue 16 April 2013","id":"18"},{"Date":"Wed 17 April 2013","id":"19"},{"Date":"Thu 18 April 2013","id":"20"},{"Date":"Fri 19 April 2013","id":"21"},{"Date":"Sat 20 April 2013","id":"22"},{"Date":"Sun 21 April 2013","id":"23"},{"Date":"Mon 22 April 2013","id":"24"},{"Date":"Tue 23 April 2013","id":"25"},{"Date":"Wed 24 April 2013","id":"26"},{"Date":"Thu 25 April 2013","id":"27"},{"Date":"Fri 26 April 2013","id":"28"},{"Date":"Sat 27 April 2013","id":"29"},{"Date":"Sun 28 April 2013","id":"30"},{"Date":"Mon 29 April 2013","id":"31"},{"Date":"Tue 30 April 2013","Night":"False","Morning":"False","Afternoon":"False","Evening":"False","id":"32"}]
if using
data: {griddata:dataToSend},
the data shows in Fiddler as :
griddata=%5B%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Fri+29+March+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%220%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sat+30+March+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%221%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sun+31+March+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%222%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Mon+1+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%223%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Tue+2+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%224%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Wed+3+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%225%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Thu+4+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%226%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Fri+5+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%227%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sat+6+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%228%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sun+7+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%229%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Mon+8+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2210%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Tue+9+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2211%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Wed+10+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2212%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Thu+11+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2213%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Fri+12+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2214%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sat+13+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2215%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sun+14+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2216%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Mon+15+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2217%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Tue+16+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2218%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Wed+17+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2219%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Thu+18+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2220%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Fri+19+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2221%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sat+20+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2222%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sun+21+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2223%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Mon+22+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2224%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Tue+23+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2225%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Wed+24+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2226%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Thu+25+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2227%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Fri+26+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2228%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sat+27+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2229%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Sun+28+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2230%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Mon+29+April+2013%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2231%22%7D%2C%7B%22Date%22%3A%22Tue+30+April+2013%22%2C%22Night%22%3A%22False%22%2C%22Morning%22%3A%22False%22%2C%22Afternoon%22%3A%22False%22%2C%22Evening%22%3A%22False%22%2C%22id%22%3A%2232%22%7D%5D

Answer 2

Try modifying like this:
function sendData(data) {
var dataToSend = JSON.stringify(data);
alert("The following data are sending to the server:\n" + dataToSend);
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: '#Url.Action("WatchList", "Update")',
dataType: "json",
data: {griddata:dataToSend},
loadonce: true,
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
success: function (response, textStatus, jqXHR) {
// remove error div if exist
$('#' + grid[0].id + '_err').remove();
alert("Updates Complete");
},
error: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
// remove error div if exist
$('#' + grid[0].id + '_err').remove();
// insert div with the error description before the grid
grid.closest('div.ui-jqgrid').before(
'<div id="' + grid[0].id + '_err" style="max-width:' + grid[0].style.width +
';"><div class="ui-state-error ui-corner-all" style="padding:0.7em;float:left;"><span class="ui-icon ui-icon-alert" ' +
'style="float:left; margin-right: .3em;"></span><span style="clear:left">' +
decodeErrorMessage(jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) + '</span></div><div style="clear:left"/></div>');
}
$("#sendAll").click(function () {
var localGridData = grid.jqGrid('getGridParam', 'data');
sendData(localGridData);
});
};
In controller:
public ActionResult WatchList(string griddata) {
........
}