ASP.NET MVC 3 - Posting a Form Back to the Controller - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

I'm new to ASP.NET MVC. I'm currently using ASP.NET MVC 3. I'm trying to create a basic form with an image button that posts data back to the controller. My form looks like the following:
MyView.cshtml
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.TextBox("queryTextBox", string.Empty, new { style = "width:150px;" })
<input type="image" alt="Search" src="/img/search.png" value="Search" name="ExecuteQuery" />
}
MyController.cs
public class MyController: Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
ViewData["CurrentDate"] = DateTime.UtcNow;
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult ExecuteQuery()
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
return View();
}
}
}
I have verified that I'm accessing my controller code. The way I've been able to do this is by successfully printing out the "CurrentDate" associated with the ViewData. However, when I click my image button, I was assuming that my break point in the ExecuteQuery method would fire. It does not. What am I doing wrong? How do I do a simple POST in MVC?

Answer 1

Your form is pointing to the wrong action.
Calling Html.BeginForm() creates a <form> that POSTs to the current action (Index).
You need to pass the action name to BeginForm.

Answer 2

Try this one
#using (Html.BeginForm("ExecuteQuery", "MyController", FormMethod.Post))
{
#Html.TextBox("queryTextBox", string.Empty, new { style = "width:150px;" })
<input type="submit" value="Search" />
}
In your controller
public class MyController: Controller
{
public ActionResult Index()
{
ViewData["CurrentDate"] = DateTime.UtcNow;
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult ExecuteQuery(string queryTextBox)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
// DO SOMETHING WITH queryTextBox
return View();
}
}
}
If the image submit button is very important for you, you can still change the button background image using CSS.