Pass ViewModel to JSONresult in controller - model-view-controller

Question

My application was working but I was asked to change how message are displayed by using the JSONResponseFactory. But when I try that my ViewModel is empty going back to the JSonResult (which used to be ActionResult). I've been told I may have to serialize the form fields. Here are some present code excerpts:
cshtml:
function SubmitForm() {
$.ajaxSetup({ cache: false });
$.post('#Url.Action("StoreLevelPlanning", "StoreLevelPlanning")', { actionType: "Submit"})
.done(function (data) {
if (data.Success == true) {
CreateInformationMessage(data.Message, 'window.location.href = "#Url.Action("storemanagement", "AccountListing")";');
}
else {
CreateErrorMessage(data.Message);
}
});
}
Controller:
public JsonResult StoreLevelPlanning_Post(string actionType) // actionType is Save or Submit
{
// message to return to the view on success
string successMessage = "";
var model = new VM_StoreLevelPlanning();
TryUpdateModel(model);
try
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
model.buttonPressed = actionType;
repo.UpdateCLPCategoryAndRemark(model);
//Render different message depending on ActionType
if (actionType == "Save")
{
successMessage = "Your plan was saved. You will now be directed to the Listing Screen";
}
else if (actionType == "Submit")
{
successMessage = "Your plan has been submitted. You will now be directed to the Listing Screen.";
}
else
{
//return RedirectToAction("storemanagement", "AccountListing");
// need to revisit to figure out if this can be removed
throw new Exception("Else case happened");
}
}
else
{
if (actionType == "Save")
{
// TODO : change this to throw an error so that the ErrorLog class is utilized
throw new Exception("Your plan was not saved. Please retry.");
}
else
{
// TODO : change this to throw an error so that the ErrorLog class is utilized
throw new Exception("Your plan was not submitted. Please retry.");
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
return Json(JsonResponseFactory.ErrorResponse(e.Message));
}
return Json(JsonResponseFactory.SuccessResponse(successMessage));
}
I'm open to any suggestions since I'm new to MVC. The idea is to put out a successful save message and redirect the user to the Listing page. But he way I changed the code now the view model is empty. It does not use a form collection. The data is in a list in the view model.
Thank you in advance...