Kendo UI Grid: Configuration of the DataSource with Context Model - linq

Question

I am using ASP.Net Mvc 4 with Kendo UI grid.
I would like to perform more advanced features on the kendo UI grid (like exporting the sorted data from the grid to excel, adding filters, etc.). I need to configure the DataSource in my View and the "Read" method in the Controller. The grid is populated from a LINQ query and stored in the ViewBag.
Here is the razor code in my view Index.cshtml
#(Html.Kendo().Grid((IEnumerable<Reports.Models.Company>)ViewBag.ActComp)
.Name("grid")
.Columns(columns =>
{
columns.Bound(comp => comp.Name);
columns.Bound(comp => comp.DateCreated);
columns.Bound(comp => comp.Quarter).Sortable(false);
columns.Bound(comp => comp.Code);
columns.Bound(comp => comp.Enabled).Column.Title = "Active";
})
.Sortable()
.Groupable()
.Scrollable(src => src.Height(500))
)
Here is the Controller ActiveCompController.cs
namespace Reports.Controllers
{
public class ActiveCompController : Controller
{
private FSLContext fslData = new FSLContext();
public ActionResult Index()
{
ViewBag.ActComp = from b in fslData.Companies
where b.Enabled == true
orderby b.Name
select b;
return View();
}
I have seen a couple of different examples with .Ajax() like:
.DataSource(dataSource => dataSource // Configure the grid data source
.Ajax() // Specify that ajax binding is used
.Read(read => read.Action("Products_Read", "Home")) // Set the action method which will return the data in JSON format
However, it didn't work as my data is from a LINQ query not formatted in JSON. Also, I don't know what to write in the "Read" method.
Any thoughts on how to configure the Datasource and the controller with my configuration ?

Answer 1

It looks like your code is similar to the example for the Kendo Grid at
http://demos.kendoui.com/web/grid/index.html
I would start by setting up a ViewModel class for Company that would hold all of your columns for the grid similar to how they have a ProductViewModel in their example. For instance, you would have the following in your ViewModel:
Name, DateCreated, Quarter, Code, Enabled
If you navigate to ASP.NET MVC > IndexController.cs you'll see where they've defined their method:
public ActionResult Products_Read([DataSourceRequest] DataSourceRequest request)
From there you'll see that they wrapped their LINQ results into their ViewModels and returned them in JSON format. You're on the right track for setting up the DataSource for your grid. As far as the Controller goes, you would change
.Read(read => read.Action("Products_Read", "Home"))
to
.Read(read => read.Action("<YourMethodHere>", "Home"))
Which will allow you to modify the logic for the read. However, note the Read operation is simply used for populating the table, any other functionality (such as sorting) would be handled differently. For more information on sorting take a look here
http://demos.kendoui.com/web/grid/sorting.html