Pass constant value and variable (input) text from View to Controller - asp.net-mvc

I'm fairly new to ASP.NET MVC and still getting used to some of the concepts.
I understand that to pass the value of a text box in the View back to the Controller, I can use Html.BeginForm and give the text box the same name as the corresponding parameter in the Controller Action.
Here's my situation: I have 2 buttons. I want them to call the same Action in the Controller. I want them to both pass the value for the text box (i.e. the "searchText").
However, I want one of the buttons to pass "false" for the parameter isQuickJump and I want the other button to pass "true" for the parameter isQuickJump.
Here is my View:
#using (Html.BeginForm("SearchResults", "Search", FormMethod.Get)) {
<div id="logo" class="centered">
<a href="SearchResults">
<img alt="Search" src="../../Content/themes/base/images/Search.jpg" />
</a>
</div>
<div id="searchBox" class="centered">
#Html.TextBox("searchText", null, new { #class = "searchTextBox" })
</div>
<div id="buttons" class="centered">
<input type="submit" id="searchButton" value="Search" class="inputBtn" />
#Html.ActionLink("Quick Jump", "SearchResults", "Search", new { isQuickJump = true }, new { #class = "btn" })
</div>
}
Controller:
public ActionResult SearchResults(string searchText, int? page, int? size, bool? isQuickJump, GridSortOptions sort)
{
var items = GetSearchGrid(searchText, page, size, sort);
if (Request.IsAjaxRequest())
return PartialView("_SearchResultsGrid", items);
return View(items);
}
Any suggestions on how to do this?
I appreciate your help!

Just use 2 submit buttons with the same name and different value:
<div id="buttons" class="centered">
<button type="submit" name="isQuickJump" value="false">Search</button>
<button type="submit" name="isQuickJump" value="true">Quick Jump</button>
</div>
Depending on which button is clicked the corresponding value will be sent to the server for the isQuickJump parameter. And since both are submit buttons, they will also submit all other input fields data to the server (which was not the case with the anchor that you used as the second button).

Related

TextBoxFor displaying the wrong name? [duplicate]

this is a tricky one to explain, so I'll try bullet pointing.
Issue:
Dynamic rows (collection) available to user on View (add/delete)
User deletes row and saves (POST)
Collection passed back to controller with non-sequential indices
Stepping through code, everything looks fine, collection items, indices etc.
Once the page is rendered, items are not displaying correctly - They are all out by 1 and therefore duplicating the top item at the new 0 location.
What I've found:
This happens ONLY when using the HTML Helpers in Razor code.
If I use the traditional <input> elements (not ideal), it works fine.
Question:
Has anyone ever run into this issue before? Or does anyone know why this is happening, or what I'm doing wrong?
Please check out my code below and thanks for checking my question!
Controller:
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Index()
{
List<Car> cars = new List<Car>
{
new Car { ID = 1, Make = "BMW 1", Model = "325" },
new Car { ID = 2, Make = "Land Rover 2", Model = "Range Rover" },
new Car { ID = 3, Make = "Audi 3", Model = "A3" },
new Car { ID = 4, Make = "Honda 4", Model = "Civic" }
};
CarModel model = new CarModel();
model.Cars = cars;
return View(model);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(CarModel model)
{
// This is for debugging purposes only
List<Car> savedCars = model.Cars;
return View(model);
}
Index.cshtml:
As you can see, I have "Make" and "Actual Make" inputs. One being a HTML Helper and the other a traditional HTML Input, respectively.
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<div class="col-md-4">
#for (int i = 0; i < Model.Cars.Count; i++)
{
<div id="car-row-#i" class="form-group row">
<br />
<hr />
<label class="control-label">Make (#i)</label>
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Cars[i].Make, new { #id = "car-make-" + i, #class = "form-control" })
<label class="control-label">Actual Make</label>
<input class="form-control" id="car-make-#i" name="Cars[#i].Make" type="text" value="#Model.Cars[i].Make" />
<div>
<input type="hidden" name="Cars.Index" value="#i" />
</div>
<br />
<button id="delete-btn-#i" type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-danger" onclick="DeleteCarRow(#i)">Delete Entry</button>
</div>
}
<div class="form-group">
<input type="submit" class="btn btn-sm btn-success" value="Submit" />
</div>
</div>
}
Javascript Delete Function
function DeleteCarRow(id) {
$("#car-row-" + id).remove();
}
What's happening in the UI:
Step 1 (delete row)
Step 2 (Submit form)
Step 3 (results)
The reason for this behavior is that the HtmlHelper methods use the value from ModelState (if one exists) to set the value attribute rather that the actual model value. The reason for this behavior is explained in the answer to TextBoxFor displaying initial value, not the value updated from code.
In your case, when you submit, the following values are added to ModelState
Cars[1].Make: Land Rover 2
Cars[2].Make: Audi 3
Cars[3].Make: Honda 4
Note that there is no value for Cars[0].Make because you deleted the first item in the view.
When you return the view, the collection now contains
Cars[0].Make: Land Rover 2
Cars[1].Make: Audi 3
Cars[2].Make: Honda 4
So in the first iteration of the loop, the TextBoxFor() method checks ModelState for a match, does not find one, and generates value="Land Rover 2" (i.e. the model value) and your manual input also reads the model value and sets value="Land Rover 2"
In the second iteration, the TextBoxFor() does find a match for Cars[1]Make in ModelState so it sets value="Land Rover 2" and manual inputs reads the model value and sets value="Audi 3".
I'm assuming this question is just to explain the behavior (in reality, you would save the data and then redirect to the GET method to display the new list), but you can generate the correct output when you return the view by calling ModelState.Clear() which will clear all ModelState values so that the TextBoxFor() generates the value attribute based on the model value.
Side note:You view contains a lot of bad practice, including polluting your markup with behavior (use Unobtrusive JavaScript), creating label element that do not behave as labels (clicking on them will not set focus to the associated control), unnecessary use of <br/> elements (use css to style your elements with margins etc) and unnecessary use of new { #id = "car-make-" + i }. The code in your loop can be
#for (int i = 0; i < Model.Cars.Count; i++)
{
<div class="form-group row">
<hr />
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.Cars[i].Make, "Make (#i)")
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Cars[i].Make, new { #class = "form-control" })
....
<input type="hidden" name="Cars.Index" value="#i" />
<button type="button" class="btn btn-sm btn-danger delete">Delete Entry</button>
</div>
}
$('.delete').click(function() {
$(this).closest('.form-group').remove();
}

New value in HTML.DropDownListFor(...) not setting in Controller [Post] method?

Hopefully someone can see how to go about this, because I've tried everything I can think of. When the Create() View in my MVC5 application loads I first populate several [SelectList(...)]'s in my Controller (ex.):
ViewBag.Model_Id = new SelectList(db.DBT_MODELS.OrderBy(x => x.MODEL_DESCRIPTION), "MODEL_ID", "MODEL_DESCRIPTION");
I then on my Create() View use this [SelectList(...)] to Populate an Html.DropDownListFor(...):
<div class="form-group">
<span class="control-label col-md-2">Model:</span>
<div class="col-md-4">
#Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.MODEL_ID, (SelectList)ViewBag.Model_Id, htmlAttributes: new { #class = "form-control dropdown", #id = "selectModel" })
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MODEL_ID, "", new { #class = "text-danger" })
</div>
<div class="col-md-2">
<div class="btn-group">
<button id="createNewModel" type="button" class="btn btn-success" aria-expanded="false">CREATE NEW</button>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<div id="createModelFormContainer" style="display:none">
<form action="/createNewModel">
<input type="text" id="textNewModel" name="model_description" placeholder="New Model" />
<input type="button" id="submitNewModel" value="Submit" />
<input type="button" id="cancelNewModel" value="Cancel" />
</form>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Simple enough, and this all works as expected. The problem lies in a bit of extended functionality I've tried to incorporate. My main class has several of these properties which are basically Foreign Key's in my DB. When a User goes in to Create/Edit() an entity in my main Model, I wanted to allow them to be able to add new entities to these foreign tables without needing to navigate away from the current View.
As such, I added (for each foreign property, using (Model) as an example) the code shown above and again directly below with a button to Show/Hide a small form for users to insert a new value and have it added to the DropDownList:
<div class="col-md-2">
<div class="btn-group">
<button id="createNewModel" type="button" class="btn btn-success" aria-expanded="false">CREATE NEW</button>
</div>
</div>
<div class="col-md-4">
<div id="createModelFormContainer" style="display:none">
<form action="/createNewModel">
<input type="text" id="textNewModel" name="model_description" placeholder="New Model" />
<input type="button" id="submitNewModel" value="Submit" />
<input type="button" id="cancelNewModel" value="Cancel" />
</form>
</div>
</div>
My submitNewModel() click event below gets the user's inputted new value and then uses a JSON call to a Controller Method to add it in the Database Table. This new value (and new ID for it) are then returned, the form for the DropDownList is reset, and I set the DropDownList's current value as the newly added one:
$('#createNewModel').click(function () {
$('#createModelFormContainer').show();
})
$('#cancelNewModel').click(function () {
$('#createModelFormContainer').hide();
})
$('#submitNewModel').click(function () {
var form = $(this).closest('form');
var data = { description: document.getElementById('textNewModel').value };
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
dataType: "JSON",
url: '#Url.Action("createNewModel", "INV_ASSETS")',
data: data,
success: function (resp) {
if (resp.ModelExists)
{
alert("Model [" + resp.Text + "] already exists. Please select from the DropDown.");
} else {
$('#selectModel').append($('<option></option>').val(resp.MODEL_ID).text(resp.Text));
form[0].reset();
$('#createModelFormContainer').hide();
var count = $('#selectModel option').size();
$('#selectModel').prop('selectedIndex', count - 1);
$('#selectModel').val(resp.MODEL_ID);
//document.getElementById('selectModel').value = resp.MODEL_ID; - Shows dropdown as blank [ ] once executed.
}
},
error: function () {
alert("ERROR - Something went wrong adding new Model [" + resp.Text + "]!");
$('#createModelFormContainer').hide();
}
});
//reloadForNewEntity();
});
The createNewModel() method that is called in my Controller:
public JsonResult createNewModel(string description)
{
DBT_MODELS model = new DBT_MODELS()
{
// ID auto-set during save.
MODEL_DESCRIPTION = description.Trim(),
CREATED_DATE = DateTime.Now,
CREATED_BY = System.Environment.UserName
};
var duplicateModel = db.DBT_MODELS.FirstOrDefault(x => x.MODEL_DESCRIPTION.ToUpper() == model.MODEL_DESCRIPTION.ToUpper());
try
{
if (duplicateModel == null)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
db.DBT_MODELS.Add(model);
db.SaveChanges();
// Ensure the [model.ID] is properly set after having been saved to and auto-generated in the database.
model.MODEL_ID = db.DBT_MODELS.FirstOrDefault(x => x.MODEL_DESCRIPTION.ToUpper() == model.MODEL_DESCRIPTION.ToUpper()).MODEL_ID;
}
}
else
{
model = duplicateModel;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Elmah.ErrorSignal.FromCurrentContext().Raise(ex);
}
return Json(new { ID = model.MODEL_ID, Text = model.MODEL_DESCRIPTION, ModelExists = (duplicateModel != null) }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
Visually speaking, everything works as intended up to this point. The problem is when I go to Save the main entity I am Creating/Editing.
Any value that was already in the Foreign Tables, and thus in the DropDownList when the View loads, saves just fine; but if I add a new Foreign Table value for these main entity properties (though visually added and the currently selected values for the individual DropDownLists) the [POST] method then executes with each foreign id value set as 0 (ex. MainClass.Model_ID = "0" vs expected MainClass.Model_ID = "625", MainClass.Type_ID = "0" vs expected MainClass.Type_ID = "17", MainClass.Location_ID = "0" vs expected MainClass.Location_ID = "82", etc.)
Basically if the value selected in the Html.DropDownListFor() is one of my newly added values, the POST controller method always renders the MainClass.*_ID value which the selected Html.DropDownListFor() value corresponds to as "0".
Can anyone point me to how to get this working? I have tried:
Changing how my JavaScript sets the value in the DropDownList after the the JSON call to my Controller Actions returns (ex): //document.getElementById('selectModel').value = resp.MODEL_ID; - Shows dropdown as blank [ ] once executed. vs $('#selectModel').val(resp.MODEL_ID); which visually renders the expected new value in the DropDownList.
On return from the Controller method, setting a new ViewBag variable and then hoping to reference the saved value in the POST method (did not work, the JavaScript rendered my #Viewbag.PostModelID = resp.ModelID as "= resp.ModelID" and threw many expected errors).
EDIT:
[Redacted for N/A]
EDIT2: Good to go. Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
The json data you are returning from your action method is in this format.
{
"ID": 24,
"Text": "IOS",
"ModelExists": false
}
But in your code, you are trying to access MODEL_ID property which does not exist in the resp object.
$('#selectModel').append($('<option></option>').val(resp.MODEL_ID).text(resp.Text));
Change your code to use ID property value
$('#selectModel').append($('<option></option>').val(resp.ID).text(resp.Text));
$('#selectModel').val(resp.ID);
In your controller where you create the new model.. your json object that you're returning is ID, Text, ModelExists, but in your javascript you're setting the val property of the new <option> to MODEL_ID.. these 2 need to match..
So change your javascript to be
.val(resp.ID)
or change the return value in your controller action to
return Json(new { MODEL_ID = model.MODEL_ID, Text = model.MODEL_DESCRIPTION
You're also referencing MODEL_ID here
$('#selectModel').val(resp.MODEL_ID);
so make sure if you don't change your controller action, you update this also

Get changed item from DropDownListFor into another form

I have 3 forms each has access to its own Delete/Create/Edit action on server side.
When I change the DropDownListFor selected item and do a Delete then the string title is passed to the server
When I change the DropDownListFor selected item and do a Create/Edit then the string title is not passed to the server.
How can I let my Create/Edit form know of my change in the DropDownListFor ?
Passing the initial title value works with the Create/Edit action. So the problem is the change event.
index.cshtml
#using (Html.BeginForm(MVC.Configuration.Addresses.ActionNames.Delete, MVC.Configuration.Addresses.Name, new { #area = MVC.Configuration.Name }, FormMethod.Post, HtmlAttributes.Form))
{
<div class="form-group required">
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.Title, HtmlAttributes.Label)
<div class="col-md-6">
#(Html.Kendo().DropDownListFor(m => m.Title)
.BindTo(Model.Addresses.OrderBy(order => order.Text))
.HtmlAttributes(HtmlAttributes.KendoControl))
</div>
</div>
<input type="submit" value="Delete" class="btn btn-default" />
}
#using (Html.BeginForm(MVC.Configuration.Addresses.ActionNames.Edit, MVC.Configuration.Addresses.Name, new { #area = MVC.Configuration.Name }, FormMethod.Get, HtmlAttributes.Form))
{
#Html.HiddenFor(p => p.Title)
<input type="submit" value="Edit" class="btn btn-default" />
}
#using (Html.BeginForm(MVC.Configuration.Addresses.ActionNames.Add, MVC.Configuration.Addresses.Name, new { #area = MVC.Configuration.Name }, FormMethod.Get, HtmlAttributes.Form))
{
#Html.HiddenFor(p => p.Title)
<input type="submit" value="Add" class="btn btn-default" />
}
you can use 1 form with multiple buttons, you will achieve the desired result and your view will be cleaner.
As far as I know there are two main methods:
1 MVC Action: You can check the value of clicked submit button in MVC action and then perform the desired things. Example given that your buttons have as name "submitButtonName".
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult YourAction(string submitButtonName, YourFormModel model)
{
switch (submitButtonName) {
case "create":
CreateMethod(model);
break;
case "edit":
EditMethod(model);
break;
case "delete":
DeleteMethod(model);
break;
}
}
3 MVC Actions: You can change the form target action on button click using javascript. Example given that your buttons have as class "submitButtonClass".
$(".submitButtonClass").on("click", function(e){
e.preventDefault();
$('#yourFormId').attr('action', $(this).val()).submit();
});
I wrote the code quickly without testing it but it should work :)
Have a nice day,
Alberto

Multiple Search Buttons in MVC3

There are a few questions on SO about multiple submit buttons, such as How do you handle multiple submit buttons in ASP.NET MVC Framework? but what I am having trouble with is having multiple search buttons, each with it's own associated textbox for the value being searched for, and which searches it's own set of data. For example..
<div class="leftContentColumnRow">
#Html.TextBox("SearchString", null, new { placeholder = "Search Roles..." })
<input type="submit" value="" class="searchbtn" name="SearchRoles" />
</div>
<div class="rightContentColumnRow">
#Html.TextBox("SearchString", null, new { placeholder = "Search Permissions..." })
<input type="submit" value="" class="searchbtn" name="SearchPermissions" />
</div>
I can determine which button has been clicked, but I am struggling to get hold of the data in both textboxes.
Use a separate form for each input button pair with a different action for the form.
Like Oded said, 2 forms, each has it'w own action paramter value.
#using(Html.Beginform("SearchRole","User")
{
<div class="leftContentColumnRow">
#Html.TextBox("SearchString", null, new { placeholder = "Search Roles..." })
<input type="submit" value="" class="searchbtn" name="SearchRoles" />
</div>
}
#using(Html.Beginform("SearchPermissions","User")
{
<div class="rightContentColumnRow">
#Html.TextBox("SearchString", null, new { placeholder = "Search Permissions..." })
<input type="submit" value="" class="searchbtn" name="SearchPermissions" />
</div>
}
and the Action methods
public ActionResult SearchRole(string SearchString)
{
//get data and return something
}
public ActionResult SearchPermissions(string SearchString)
{
//get data and return something
}

How to submit form with multi buttons with same value asp.netMvc

I need to build voting web site so, I have couple candidates and below them a vote button,
how I can find which of the buttons was submitted
thanks
Give each of your buttons a name, like so (notice they are both "submit" buttons)::
<input type="submit" name="buttonYes" value="Yes" />
<input type="submit" name="buttonNo" value="No" />
Then, in your controller, capture a parameter for each of the two button names like this:
public ActionResult Index(string buttonYes, string buttonNo) { ... }
You can then tell which button was pressed by checking to see which of these two parameters is not null; the one which is pressed with a have a value equal to the "value" attribute of the button, the other one will be null:
if (buttonYes != null)
{
// Then the yes button was preseed
}
else if (buttonNo != null)
{
// Then the no button was pressed
}
else
{
// Neither button was used to submit the form
// and we got here some other way
}
The reason this works is because the web browser sends the information for the submit button that was pressed as part of the HTTP post to the web server. The button that was not pressed will not be sent with the post, and therefore the parameter will be null.
There are lots of ways to rewrite and optimzie this, but this is the essence of it and shows the fundamentals that are at work--you can play with it from there.
I wouldn't use the button value, I would set it up so that the url used to do the post encodes the vote itself. You could do this a couple of ways.
Use links
<div class="left">
<img src="/images/candidate/#Model.Candidates[0].ID" alt="#Model.Candidates[0].Name" />
#Html.ActionLink( "Vote for " + Model.Candidates[0].Name, "count", "vote" )
</div>
<div class="right">
<img src="/images/candidate/#Model.Candidates[1].ID" alt="#Model.Candidates[1].Name" />
#Html.ActionLink( "Vote for " + Model.Candidates[1].Name, "count", "vote" )
</div>
Use separate forms
<div class="left">
#using (Html.BeginForm( "count", "vote", new { id = Model.Candidates[0].ID } ))
{
<img src="/images/candidate/#Model.Candidates[0].ID" alt="#Model.Candidates[0].Name" />
<input type="submit" value="Vote" />
}
</div>
<div class="right">
#using (Html.BeginForm( "count", "vote", new { id = Model.Candidates[1].ID } ))
{
<img src="/images/candidate/#Model.Candidates[1].ID" alt="#Model.Candidates[1].Name" />
<input type="submit" value="Vote" />
}
</div>
Either of the above can be adapted to work with AJAX as well. Note, if you care, you'll need to build in some mechanism to detect vote fraud, e.g., add a one-time nonce to the url to verify that it isn't used more than once; track the number of times a user has voted if they are authenticated, etc.

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