Reloading main view after button in PartialView is clicked - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

I have a partial view that the user can preform a search in, and the search results are shown in a select box. In my main view I have a section that is supposed to show the search results after a select button is pressed. Right now when I click the select button is loads the correct information into the correct model for my main view, but the main view doesn't change. When I click refresh, the page updates correctly. How do I make the page update automatically when a button is clicked in the plugin view?
My section in the main view (Index.vbhtml) in my main app:
#Section CUInfo
Credit Union Name: #Model.CUInfo.CUName
end section
Here is my controller method in my Plugin:
Function ChangeCUInfo(strCUName As String) As ActionResult
m_hostApp.CUInfo.CUName = strCUName
m_hostApp.blnPluginRefreshButtonPressed = True
Return View("Index", m_hostApp)
End Function
I've tried to set a boolean value in the hostApp object and then in my main razor view call this function if it is true:
#code
If Model.blnPluginRefreshButtonPressed = True Then
#<script type="text/javascript">
$(function () {
window.location.reload();
});
</script>
End If
Model.blnPluginRefreshButtonPressed = False
End Code
EDIT:
JS function called when the select button is clicked:
function loadCU(CUInfo) {
strCU = CUInfo.split('|');
strCUName = strCU[0];
$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "/CUContractNumberPlugin/ChangeCUInfo",
data: { "strCUName": strCUName }
});
}
Form that is used in the plugin view:
#Using (Html.BeginForm("ChangeCUInfo", "CUContractNumberPlugin"))
#<div id="LogoSigSearch" style="height:300px;width:500px;position:relative;">
<span style="display:inline-block;height:20px;width:166px;position:absolute;top:35px;left:5px;">Credit Union Name</span>
<br />
#Html.TextBox("strCUName")
<input type="submit" name="LogoSigSearch$ctl02" value="Search" id="LogoSigSearch_ctl02" tabindex="3" style="width:60px;position:absolute;top:5px;left:352px;" />
<input name="LogoSigSearch$ctl05" type="button" onclick="javascript:clearSearch()" value="Clear" style="position:absolute;top:35px;left:352px;width:60px;" />
<select size="4" name="LogoSigSearch$ctl06" id="LogoSigSearch_ctl06" tabindex="5" style="height:230px;width:342px;position:absolute;top:65px;left:5px;"></select>
<input type="button" name="SelectCU" value="Select" onclick="javascript:loadCU(LogoSigSearch_ctl06.options[LogoSigSearch_ctl06.selectedIndex].value)" tabindex="4" style="width:60px;position:absolute;top:65px;left:352px;" />
</div>
End Using

Answer 1

Are both buttons part of a form? A button won't invoke an action without you attaching it to script or making it part of a form with an associated action.
Use a partial view to render the results of the query, even on the main page load. This simplifies your development.
Add a jQuery event handler (jQuery.on()) to watch for the button click on your main page, or if the button is returned in the partial view, just use an on ready handler in your partial and attach a button.click() event, again using jQuery.
The jQuery event handler can take care of submitting the values of the query, posting to your controller, and displaying the results. I have a number of older articles here but they are still relevant to your question and demonstrate submitting data and fetching partials.
Your client-side code will end up looking something like this:
$("#your-button").click(function () {
var fetchUrl = '#Url.Action("ActionName", "Controller")';
$.post(fetchUrl, { searchParams: $("#your-search-box").val() })
.success(function (data) {
// replace the contents of the DIV with the results. 'data'
// here has whatever you sent back from your partial view
})
.error(function (data) {
// handle the error, use a DIV with some kind of alert message etc
});
});
Hope this helps some.