pass a value of the form from view to controller - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

how do i pass the value of the form, which is (i assume) a string of date to the controller...
here is my view:
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
$(function () {
$(".datepicker").datepicker({ onSelect: function (dateText, inst) { $("FORM").submit(); },
altField: ".alternate"
});
});
</script>
#model IEnumerable<CorReservation.Models.Reservation>
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Index";
}
<div class="divRightSide">
<div>
<div class="datepicker">
</div>
<form action="/" title="fff">
<input type="text" class="alternate" readonly="readonly" />
</form>
</div>
// do something eg. foreach (var item in Model)
{ #Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Date)}
here is my controller: i want to pass the date selected from the datepicker to the controller and then the controller would return an Ienumerable of reservations...
DateTime date = System.DateTime.Now;
private ReservationEntities db = new ReservationEntities();
public ViewResult Index()
{
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(string dateInput)
{
date = Convert.ToDateTime(dateInput);
var reservations = db.Reservations.Where(r=> r.Date ==date).Include(r => r.Employee).Include(r => r.Room).OrderByDescending(r => r.Date);
return View(reservations);
}

Answer 1

There are 2 ways to do this. Make the form input name attribute match the expected attribute in your controller.
For example:
<input type="text" class="alternate" readonly="readonly" name="dateInput" />
Or if there's going to be a lot of input values, use a Model.

Answer 2

It's automatically done based on the 'name' attribute of the HTML fields you want to submit.
Change your form to
<form action="/" title="fff">
<input name="dateInput" type="text" class="alternate" readonly="readonly" />
</form>
And it should work just like that.
Also, as you are using Razor syntax, you could use the Razor HTML helpers like so
#model IEnumerable<CorReservation.Models.Reservation>
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Index";
}
<div class="divRightSide">
<div>
<div class="datepicker">
</div>
#using(#Html.BeginForm("<your controller name>", "<your action name e.g. Index>"){
Html.TextBox("dateInput", "", new { #readonly="readonly", #class="alternate" })
}
</div>
// do something eg. foreach (var item in Model)
{ #Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Date)}