Save and retrieve checkbox values asp.net mvc3 - asp.net-mvc-3

I am a newbie to MVC3 technology and trying to workout my way get through a small problem.
I simply need to get checked checkbox values to be saved in database and on Edit view check them back.
<input type="checkbox" value="Photo" name="DocSub" /> Photograph<br />
<input type="checkbox" value="BirthCertificate" name="DocSub" /> Copy Of Birth Certificate<br />
<input type="checkbox" value="School Leaving Certificate" name="DocSub" /> School Leaving Certificate<br />
When the Submit button is clicked, the [HTTPPOST] Action method of the desired controller is called. There I receive the selected values in this form :
var selectedCheckBoxValues = Request.Form["DocSub"];
I am getting the all the checked checkbox values in comma separated form and able to store them to the database, but wondering if this is the right approach to go by.
Also I need to know to retrieve checkbox values from database on Edit view in already checked form.

the typical apporoach to these problems is to use a view with a model
ie, suppose this is view Documents.cshtml
#model DocumentViewModel
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.Photo)
#Html.CheckBoxFor( m => m.Photo )
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.BirthCertificate)
#Html.CheckBoxFor( m => m.BirthCertificate )
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.SchoolLeavingCertificate)
#Html.CheckBoxFor( m => m.SchoolLeavingCertificate )
and use a viewmodel to pass data to the view
the viewmodel is a class where you have the data your going to send to the view, ie.
public class DocumentViewModel{
public bool Photo {get;set;}
public bool BirthCertificate { get; set; }
public bool SchoolLeavingCertificate {get;set;}
}
and you'd have a controller that populates the viewmodel and calls the view
public ActionResult Documents()
{
var modelData = new DocumentViewModel();
//or retrieve from database at this point
// ie. modelData.Photo = some database value
return View(modelData);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Documents(DocumentViewModel documentsVM)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
//update the database record, save to database... (do stuff with documentsVM and the database)
return RedirectToAction("NextAction");
}
//else, if model is not valid redirect back to the view
return View(documentsVM);
}
look for tutorials out there on mvc basics. read code.

Related

partial views to get data and then post the results to save in database

I am very new to MVC, let me try to explain my scenario in plain simple English:
I have an strongly typed mvc form/page (Product.cshtml) with a model, say ProductViewModel.
This page has got two search buttons, one to search and bring the items to be added to the Product and other to bring in the location, most probably partial views.
Now, what I want is that these search results work in ajax form without complete post back, and then the results of these searches (items and location) should be posted back using model binding to the form when user clicks on the submit button.
What could be the best way of achieving this functionality?
Immediate responses will be well appreciated.
I thought, its good to share the complete code for clarity:
I have one form(Service1.chtml) that has a partial view to display users(_TestUser a partial view:read only), then another partial view(_PlotServiceRequestData) that should have a field to search the plot and bring back the details lke its owner name and landuser etc.
Then when I click on submit button of the main form, I should be able to read all data(main form) + new data from _PlotServiceRequestData partial view and save all data to database.
I was trying one more option, that is, to use #Ajax.ActionLink on Service1.cshtml to call the _GetPlotDetails method and then store partial view data in TempData, so that it is available to the form when users clicks on "Submit" button of Service1.cshtml, is this a right approach?, if I use ajax.BeginForm inside partial view then the data is posted to the
Service1 controller method which is actually to save the form data and not to update the partialview and in this method even I am not getting model data of the partial view.
Sevice1.cshtml:
#model ViewModels.TestViewModel
#{
ViewBag.Title =
"Service1";
}
#
using (Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.Title)
#Html.EditorFor(m => m.Title)
#Html.Partial(
"_TestUser", Model)
<div id="RequestPlotData">
#Html.Partial(
"_PlotServiceRequestData", Model.requestData)
</div>
<button type="submit">Save Form</button>
}
#section Scripts {
}
_PlotServiceRequestData.cshtml:
===============================
#model ViewModels.PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel
<
div id="RequestPlotData">
#
using (Ajax.BeginForm("_GetPlotDetails", "Test", new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "RequestPlotData", Url = Url.Action("_GetPlotDetails","Test") }))
{
<h1>Request Details</h1>
 
<div>
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.plotAddress)
#Html.EditorFor(m => m.plotAddress)
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Ajax Post" />
</div>
<div>
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.LandUser)
#Html.EditorFor(m => m.LandUser)
</div>
<div>
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.OwnerName)
#Html.EditorFor(m => m.OwnerName)
</div>
}
</
div>
CONTROLLER:
==========
using
System;
using
System.Collections.Generic;
using
System.Linq;
using
System.Web;
using
System.Web.Mvc;
namespace
TestNameSpace
{
public class TestController : Controller
{
//
// GET: /Test/
public ActionResult Service1()
{
Injazat.AM.mServices.
LocalDBEntities context = new Injazat.AM.mServices.LocalDBEntities();
TestViewModel model =
new TestViewModel() { user = context.Users.First(), Title = "Land Setting Out",
requestData =
new PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel() { ServiceNumber ="122345", TransactionDate="10/10/2033" } };
return View(model);
}
[
HttpPost()]
public ActionResult Service1(TestViewModel model)
{
PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel s = (PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel)TempData[
"Data"];
TestViewModel vm =
new TestViewModel() { user = model.user, requestData = s, Title = model.Title };
return View(vm);
 
}
[
HttpGet()]
//public PartialViewResult _GetPlotDetails(string add)
public PartialViewResult _GetPlotDetails(PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel requestData)
{
//PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel requestData = new PlotServicesRequestDataViewModel() { plotAddress = add};
requestData.OwnerName =
"owner";
requestData.LandUser =
"landuser";
TempData[
"Data"] = requestData;
return PartialView("_PlotServiceRequestData", requestData);
}
}
}
You can probably use the jQuery Form plugin for this. This makes the process of posting the data from your form back to the server very easy. The form would post to an action that would return a partial view that you can then push into your UI.
To make this easier, jQuery form actually has a "target" option where it will automatically update with the server response (ie. the partial view returned from your search action).
View
<form id="searchForm" action="#(Url.Action("Search"))" method="POST">
<input name="query" type="text" /> <!-- order use Html.TextBoxFor() here -->
<input type="submit" />
</form>
<div id="result"><!--result here--></div>
Javascript
$('#searchForm').ajaxForm({
target: '#result'
});
Controller
public ActionResult Search(string query)
{
// Do something with query
var model = GetSearchResults(query);
return Partial("SearchResults", model)
}
This should hopefully help you to get on the right track. jQuery Form is a good plugin and is the main thing you should look into for ajaxifying your form posts back to the server. You might also want to look into using jQuery's $.post and $.ajax functions, but these require slightly more work.

Setting authorization on a specific ASP .NET MVC 3 field?

Is it possible to set authorization on a specific field in MVC 3?
My initial thought (and MSDN research) indicates that the [Authorize] tag is only for controller level actions (create,edit,index,etc). I can do this on the controller action:
[Authorize(Roles = "RoleA,RoleB")]
public ActionResult Create()
{
return View(new Tracking());
}
The scenario is that two roles (RoleA and RoleB) can access the 'Edit' controller. But only RoleA can change the first field. The other role (B) can only view the field.
I would like to do something like this on a specific field:
[Required]
[Range(1, 99)]
[Authorize(Roles = "RoleA")]
public int Sequence { get; set; }
UPDATE1:
A little more research down the StackOverflow rabbit roles reveals that I need to use partial views.
So in my view I add this code:
<div>
#if (Context.User.IsInRole("RoleA"))
{
#Html.Partial("_SequenceEdit")
}
else
{
#Html.Partial("_SequenceView")
}
</div>
So if the user is RoleA they get a partial view that allows editing of the 'sequence' field. Otherwise they get a view only of the 'sequence' field.
My view only partial view looks like this:
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Sequence)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Sequence)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Sequence)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Sequence)
</div>
I see that you've already figured out how to modify the view in order to not show a text box to users in Role B. But you should also do server-side validation to make sure only users in Role A can edit the field.
[Authorize(Roles = "RoleA,RoleB")]
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(int trackingID, Tracking newTrackingObject)
{
// grab the current version of the tracking object from your data repo
var oldTrackingObject = trackingRepo.GetByID(trackingID);
// check if the user is in role A and edit the sequence number
if(Context.User.IsInRole("RoleA"))
oldTrackingObject.Sequence = newTrackingObject.Sequence;
// continue processing the new tracking object
// after all processing is done, persist the edited tracking object back to the repo
trackingRepo.Update(oldTrackingObject);
trackingRepo.SaveChanges();
}
This will prevent users in Role B from changing the sequence field by manually editing the hidden form field (eg. with FireBug or a similar tool.)

Passing id of selected dropdown option to Controller

I am using mvc3 nhibernate and creating a search application...
Here i am creating a dropdown list containing all Hobby names and on click of search button the selected option's id should go to post method
i have written following code in my controller
public ActionResult Details()
{
ViewBag.h=new SelectList(new Hobby_MasterService().GetHobbies(),"Hobby_Id");
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Details(int Hobby_Id)
{
Hobby_Master hm = new Hobby_MasterService().GetHobby_Data(Hobby_Id);
return RedirectToAction("Show");
}
and in view i'm only showing one drop down list as
<b>Select Hobby:</b>
#using (Html.BeginForm("Details", "Hobbies", FormMethod.Get))
{
<div class="Editor-field">
#Html.DropDownListFor(Model => Model.Hobby_Id, (IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.h)
</div>
<input type="submit" value="Search" />
}
My dropdown is populated through a function which has a normal sql statement...
and i can generate list....but how will i get the selected hobbies id...
Please help
maybe FormMethod.Post on your form?
and is your Model a class?
Perhaps you could accept that in your post action then you'll find the id on it.
without bothering with model binding, you can just add a FormCollection parameter to your POST method. That collection contains all form values posted.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Details(FormCollection collection)
{
Hobby_Master hm = new Hobby_MasterService().GetHobby_Data(Hobby_Id);
if (collection["Hobby_Id"] != null)
{
// collection["Hobby_Id"] contains the value selected in the dropdown box
}
return RedirectToAction("Show");
}

Losing data in models and collections inside the ViewModel on postback

I am using a viewmodel that contains a few other models(entities) for each partial view.
I am rendering a partial view by passing the entity which is inside the ViewModel. My partial view has a few fields and some buttons. On click of button (which is inside my partial view) the form is being posted back with the data in a sub entity, whereas my viewmodel is always posted back as null...
I need the data to be present in my viewmodel on post back.
All views are strongly typed:
Code:
public class OrdersVM
{
public FiltersVM filterCriteria { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<MeterInventory> meters { get; set; }
public string assignTo { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> AssigneeOptions { get; set; }
}
public partial class Meters
{
public int MTRNO { get; set; }
public string LOCName { get; set; }
}
public class FiltersVM
{
public string Center { get; set; }
public DateTime? DueDate { get; set; }
}
View Code
#model OrdersVM
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Orders";
}
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<div>
#Html.Partial("~/Views/Base/Filters.cshtml", Model.filterCriteria)
</div>
#foreach (var item in Model.meters)
{
<table>
<tr>
<td>
#Html.Encode(item.LOCNAME)
</td>
</tr>
</table>
}
}
Controller code
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(OrdersVM orders, FiltersVM filters)
{
//orders is null
//filters has values
}
Thanks Olivehour. I am using the partial view "Filters.cshtml". and am rendering the same.
Below is the code for partial view :
#model ViewModels.FiltersVM <fieldset>
<legend>Order Assignment</legend>
<table id="tbl1" class="tableforcontrols">
<tr>
<td>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.LDC)
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div class="editor-field">
<input type="submit" value="Search" id="btnSearch" name="button" />
</div>
</td>
<td>
<div class="editor-field">
<input type="submit" class="cancel" value="Reset" id="btnReset" name="button" />
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table> </fieldset>
I tried with single argument "OrdersVM" (parent view model) but no luck.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(OrdersVM orders)
but if I pass the parent viewmodel to the partial view it was holding the data in OrdersVM.filterCriteria but not for properties (IEnumerable meters, string assignTo and Enumerable AssigneeOptions)
#Html.Partial("~/Views/Base/Filters.cshtml", Model)
I am new to MVC. Please let me know if any one finds the solution.
Thanks in advance.
It looks like you have a couple of problems here. One probable reason why the orders arg is null in your action method is because it doesn't look like you are rendering any input elements. You just have #Html.Encode(item.LOCNAME).
In order for the default model binder to construct an instance of OrdersVM and pass it to the action method, it needs to have input from the HTTP POST. You need something more like #Html.TextBoxFor(m => item.LOCNAME).
The second problem I think is that you have 2 arguments in the action method. Since the OrdersVM already has a FiltersVM property, you should just be able to have a single OrdersVM argument to the action method. During the HTTP POST, you can just access FiltersVM properties from OrdersVM.filterCriteria. This will lead to your 3rd challenge, though, since the meters property on OrdersVM is an IEnumerable collection.
To solve this, first have a couple reads of this article about model binding collections. It's old, but it still applies in MVC3. Read it and really wrap your head around it.
If you don't like using integers to index your collection fields, there is an HTML helper written by Steve Sanderson that allows you to index collection inputs using GUID's. We use this all the time, but it can be tricky -- mainly, you should always put the collection item in a partial view. For now, you might just be better off using integer-based indexing as outlined in the Haacked article.
It sounds like you are comming from Webforms. To transition to MVC you need to remove the thought of PostBack. This is concept that doesn't really exist on the web but Webforms faked it for us.
In MVC you usually start with a GET request like /edit/{someId}. From here you load the data for the viewmodel from the database and render the view. Now let's say that all data in the viewmodel is editable so each property have it's own input field. The user edits some data and saves the form. This issues a POST to the server.
Assume we have this POST method
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(MyViewModel model)
In this case you have all the data you need modelbinded because all data existed in the form.
You could do this and get the same view rendered because all data was databinded.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(MyViewModel model){
return View(model);
}
Now let's pretend you have a dropdown in your form. Then you would have these two properties in your viewmodel.
public int CarId { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> CarOptions {get; set; }
When you post the form this time the CarId will be populated in the ViewModel but not CarOptions because they are not a part of the form data. What you do if you would want to return the same view again is to reload the missing parts.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(MyViewModel model){
model.CarOptions = LoadCarOptions();
return View(model);
}
It's certainly possible to modelbind that too if you put it in a hidden field. But it's easier and probably more effective to reload it from server/database again. This is the normal approach taken when working with MVC.

Strongly Typed RadioButtonlist

I want to get some options (say payment method cash, credit card etc.) and bind these to radio buttons. I believe there is no RadioButtonList in MVC 3.
Also, once radios are bound I want to show the previously selected option to the user while editing the answer.
As always you start with a model:
public enum PaiementMethod
{
Cash,
CreditCard,
}
public class MyViewModel
{
public PaiementMethod PaiementMethod { get; set; }
}
then a controller:
public class HomeController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
var model = new MyViewModel();
return View(model);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(MyViewModel model)
{
return View(model);
}
}
and finally a view:
#model MyViewModel
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<label for="paiement_cash">Cash</label>
#Html.RadioButtonFor(x => x.PaiementMethod, "Cash", new { id = "paiement_cash" })
<label for="paiement_cc">Credit card</label>
#Html.RadioButtonFor(x => x.PaiementMethod, "CreditCard", new { id = "paiement_cc" })
<input type="submit" value="OK" />
}
And if you want some more generic solution which encapsulates this in a helper you may find the following answer helpful.
This is how I like to bind RadioButtonLists. The view model has a collection of my strongly typed objects. For example, maybe PaymentOptions is a code table. Along with the collection is a SelectedPaymentOptionKey (or Selected*Id if you prefix your primary keys with Id). Initially this key will just be default 0, but on postback, it will hold the value of the selected item.
public class PaymentSelectionVM
{
public ICollection<PaymentOption> PaymentOptions { get; set; }
public int SelectedPaymentOptionKey { get; set; }
}
public ViewResult PaymentSelection()
{
var paymentOptions = db.PaymentOptions.ToList();
return View(
new PaymentSelectionVM {
PaymentOptions = paymentOptions,
//This is not required, but shows how to default the selected radiobutton
//Perhaps you have a relationship between a Customer and PaymentOption already,
//SelectedPaymentOptionKey = someCustomer.LastPaymentOptionUsed.PaymentOptionKey
// or maybe just grab the first one(note this would NullReferenceException on empty collection)
//SelectedPaymentOptionKey = paymentOptions.FirstOrDefault().PaymentOptionKey
});
}
Then in the View:
#foreach (var opt in Model.PaymentOptions)
{
#*Any other HTML here that you want for displaying labels or styling*#
#Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.SelectedPaymentOptionKey, opt.PaymentOptionKey)
}
The m.SelectedPaymentOptionKey serves two purposes. First, it groups the Radio buttons together so that the selection is mutually exclusive(I would encourage you to use something like FireBug to inspect the generated html just for your own understanding. The wonderful thing about MVC is the generated HTML is fairly basic and standard so it shouldn't be hard for you to eventually be able to predict the behavior of your views. There is very little magic going on here.). Second, it will hold the value of the selected item on postback.
And finally in the post handler we have the SelectedPaymentOptionKey available:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult PaymentSelection(PaymentSelectionVM vm)
{
currentOrder.PaymentOption = db.PaymentOptions.Find(vm.SelectedPaymentOptionKey);
....
}
The advantage of this over using SelectListItems is you have access to more of the object's properties in the case that you are displaying a grid/table and need to display many values of the object. I also like that there are no hard coded strings being passed in the Html helpers as some other approaches have.
The disadvantage is you get radio buttons which all have the same ID, which is not really a good practice. This is easily fixed by changing to this:
#Html.RadioButtonFor(m => m.SelectedPaymentOptionKey, opt.PaymentOptionKey, new { id = "PaymentOptions_" + opt.PaymentOptionKey})
Lastly, validation is a bit quirky with most all of the radio button techniques I've seen. If I really needed it, I would wire some jquery up to populate a hidden SelectedPaymentOptionsKey whenever the radio buttons are clicked, and place the [Required] or other validation on the hidden field.
Another workaround for the validation problem
ASP.NET MVC 3 unobtrusive validation and radio buttons
This looks promising but I haven't had a chance to test it:
http://memoriesdotnet.blogspot.com/2011/11/mvc-3-radiobuttonlist-including.html
You should bind your options to SelectList in ViewModel and set Selected attribute to true for previously selected option

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