PagedList in asp.net mvc 3 not returning anything to any page after 1 - linq

Question

I am using paged list in a search actionresult to page my results. It returns events within a date range or category.The first page returned is fine, but the second never has any results. There are over 7 results that the query returns when I check a breakpoint. Here is my search controller;
public ActionResult Search(DateTime? q, DateTime? e, int? EventCategoryId, Event model)
{
var SearchEvents = db.Events
.OrderByDescending(r => r.start)
.Where(r =>
r.start >= q &&
r.end <= e &&
r.EventCategoryId == EventCategoryId ||
r.start >= q ||
r.EventCategoryId == EventCategoryId);
ViewBag.QValue = model.start;
ViewBag.EValue = model.end;
ViewBag.ListValue = model.EventCategoryId;
ViewBag.EventCategoryId = new SelectList(db.EventsCategories, "Id", "Name", ViewBag.ListValue);
var pageIndex = model.Page ?? 1;
var results = SearchEvents.ToPagedList(pageIndex, 4);
ViewBag.Names = results;
return View(results);
}
}
And here is my view;
#model IPagedList<RealKaac.Models.Event>
#{
ViewBag.Title = "SearchResults";
}
#using PagedList;
#using PagedList.Mvc;
#using System.Linq;
<div id="Content">
<h2>SearchResults</h2>
<div id="EventSearch">
#using (Html.BeginForm("Search", "Event"))
{
<p class="EventPar">Start Date: </p>
<input id ="datepicker" type ="text" name ="q" value="#ViewBag.QValue" />
<p class="EventPar">End Date: </p>
<input id ="datepickerend" type ="text" name ="e" value ="#ViewBag.EValue" />
<p class="EventPar">Category:</p>
#Html.DropDownList("EventCategoryId")
<input id="EventButton" style="padding:1px;" type ="submit" name ="Search" value = "Search" />
}
</div>
<div id="IndexEvents">
#foreach (var item in Model)
{
<div class ="event">
<div class="eventname">
#*<p>#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Name)</p> *#
</div>
<div class = "etitle">
<p>#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.title)</p>
</div>
<div class="eventsdesc">
<p>#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.EventDescription)</p>
</div>
<ul class ="datelink">
<li style="margin-right:120px;">This event starts on the
#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.start) and ends on the
#Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.end)</li>
<li>Click #Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.EventWebsite) for more info.</li>
</ul>
</div>
}
</div>
</div>
#Html.PagedListPager((IPagedList)ViewBag.Names, page => Url.Action("Search", new { page }))
I'm fairly new at this so I'm probably missing something small, any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Answer 1

The Url.Action has only one parameter to it (the page #), which doesn't match the controller's method. It isn't providing access to any of the other parameters (such as the start/end dates). So, the second "page" query for the next 4 Events likely isn't working. If you created a SearchModel that had the necessary properties on it, you should easily be able to send the values from one page to the next.
public ActionResult Search(SearchModel search) {
//... (your search code)
// ... then, before returning the View,
ViewBag.SearchParameters = search;
return View(results);
where SearchModel has properties like:
public class SearchModel {
public DateTime? StartDate { get; set; }
public DateTime? EndDate { get; set; }
public int Page? { get; set; }
// etc.
}
Then, you could:
#Html.PagedListPager((IPagedList)ViewBag.Names, page => Url.Action("Search", new SearchModel { search = ViewBag.SearchParameters }))
Or you could just use named parameters:
#Html.PagedListPager((IPagedList)ViewBag.Names, page => Url.Action("Search", new { page = page, q = ViewBag.QValue, /* ... etc. */ }))