Hey i am having a big trouble updating data in my client side REST application.
I made a Web API controller.
// PUT: api/Contacts/5
[ResponseType(typeof(void))]
public IHttpActionResult PutContact(Contact contact, int id)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}
if (id != contact.ContactId)
{
return BadRequest();
}
_contactService.Update(contact);
return StatusCode(HttpStatusCode.NoContent);
}
And also client side service method:
public async Task<T> PutData<T>(T data, int dataId)
{
HttpResponseMessage resp = await this._client.PutAsJsonAsync(_serviceUrl + "/" + dataId, data);
resp.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
return await resp.Content.ReadAsAsync<T>();
}
Service URL shows in debug mode that i goes to endpoint:
http://localhost:21855/api/Contacts/8
But it does not even go to breakpoint when i debug my server controller PutContact method.
What i am doint wrong? I need to update the data but i cant, because my client-side application won't even go to servers breakpoint on debug mode!!!
It gives me an error response 405 : Method not allowed
You can't have two different body parameters in the same method.
What you need to do is to set the id parameter to come from the URI and the Contact parameter from the body, like this:
public IHttpActionResult PutContact([FromBody]Contact contact, [FromUri]int id)
{
// method code
}
BTW, I suppose you have a GET method in your controller which looks like this:
public IHttpActionResult GetContact(int id)
{
// method code
return Contact; // pseudo-code
}
The error you getting comes from the fact that the system is not really calling your PUT method but the GET one (the system is ignoring the Contact parameter for the reason I expressed before): calling a GET method with a PUT verb results in a 405 Method Not Allowed exception.
I have on post action in controller. Code is as given below
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(Int64 id, FormCollection collection)
{
var data = Helper.CreateEmptyApplicationsModel();
if (TryUpdateModel(data))
{
// TODO: Save data
return RedirectToAction("Edit", "Applications", new { area = "Applications", id = id });
}
else
{
// TODO: update of the model has failed, look at the error and pass back to the view
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
if (id != 0) Helper.ShowLeftColumn(data, id);
return View("Create", data);
}
}
return RedirectToAction("Details", "Info", new { area = "Deals", InfoId= id });
}
I wrote test case for this as below
[TestMethod]
public void CreateTest_for_post_data()
{
var collection = GetApplicantDataOnly();
_controller.ValueProvider = collection.ToValueProvider();
var actual = _controller.Create(0, collection);
Assert.IsInstanceOfType(actual, typeof(RedirectToRouteResult));
}
When I debug this single test case, test case passed because condition
if (TryUpdateModel(data)) return true and its goes to if condition.
But when I debug test cases from entire solution this test case failed because it goes to else condition of " if (TryUpdateModel(data))".
I dont know why..
Please help...
Thanks
I've experienced a similar problem which will solve your issue provided you don't need to use a FormCollection.
I haven't used TryUpdateModel ever since the day I learned of the Auto-Binding feature. Auto-binding, in a nutshell pretty much does the work TryUpdateModel would do for you, that is, it'll set a model object according to the values found in the FormCollection as well as attempting to validate the model. And it does this automatically. All you'll have to do is place a parameter in the ActionMethod and it will automatically have it's properties filled with the values found in the FormCollection. Your Action signature will then turn into this:
public ActionResult Create(Int64 id, SomeModel data)
Now you don't need to call TryUpdateModel at all. You still need to check if the ModelState is valid to decide whether or not to redirect or return a view.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(Int64 id, SomeModel data)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
// TODO: Save data
return RedirectToAction("Edit", "Applications", new { area = "Applications", id = id });
}
else
{
if (id != 0) Helper.ShowLeftColumn(data, id);
return View("Create", data);
}
}
This won't throw an exception in your unit tests so that's one problem solved. However, there's another problem now. If you run your application using the above code, it'll work just fine. You model will be validated upon entering the Action and the correct ActionResult, either a redirect or a view, will be returned. However, when you try to unit test both paths, you'll find the model will always return the redirect, even when the model is invalid.
The problem is that when unit testing, the model isn't being validated at all. And since the ModelState is by default valid, ModelState.IsValid will always return true in your unit tests and thus will always return a redirect even when the model is invalid.
The solution: call TryValidateModel instead of ModelState.IsValid. This will force your unit test to validate the model. One problem with this approach is that means the model will be validated once in your unit tests and twice in your application. Which means any errors discovered will be recorded twice in your application. Which means if you use the ValidationSummary helper method in your view, your gonna see some duplicated messages listed.
If this is too much to bear, you can clear the ModelState before calling TryValidateModel. There are some problems with doing so because your gonna lose some useful data, such as the attempted value if you clear the ModelState so you could instead just clear the errors recorded in the ModelState. You can do so by digging deep into the ModelState and clearing every error stored in every item like so:
protected void ClearModelStateErrors()
{
foreach (var modelState in ModelState.Values)
modelState.Errors.Clear();
}
I've placed the code in a method so it can be reused by all Actions. I also added the protected keyword to hint that this might be a useful method to place in a BaseController that all your controllers derive from so that they all have access to this method.
Final Solution:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(Int64 id, SomeModel data)
{
ClearModelStateErrors();
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
// TODO: Save data
return RedirectToAction("Edit", "Applications", new { area = "Applications", id = id });
}
else
{
if (id != 0) Helper.ShowLeftColumn(data, id);
return View("Create", data);
}
}
NOTE: I realize I didn't shed any light on the root issue. That's because I don't completely understand the root issue. If you notice the failing unit test, it fails because a ArgumentNullException was thrown because the ControllerContext is null and it is passed to a method which throws an exception if the ControllerContext is null. (Curse the MVC team with their damned defensive programming).
If you attempt to mock the ControllerContext, you'll still get an exception, this time a NullReferenceException. Funnily enough, the stack trace for the exception shows that both exceptions occur at the same method, or should I say constructor, located at System.Web.Mvc.ChildActionValueProvider. I don't have a copy of the source code handy so I have no idea what is causing the exception and I've yet to find a better solution than the one I offered above. I personally don't like my solution because I'm changing the way I code my application for the benefit of my unit tests but there doesn't seem to be a better alternative. I bet the real solution will involve mocking some other object but I just don't know what.
Also, before anyone gets any smart ideas, mocking the ValueProvider is not a solution. It'll stop exceptions but your unit tests won't be validating your model and your ModelState will always report that the model is valid even when it isn't.
You might want to clean up your code a bit:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(int id, FormCollection collection)
{
var data = Helper.CreateEmptyApplicationsModel();
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
if (id != 0)
{
Helper.ShowLeftColumn(data, id);
}
return View("Create", data);
}
if (TryUpdateModel(data))
{
return RedirectToAction("Edit", "Applications", new { area = "Applications", id = id });
}
return RedirectToAction("Details", "Info", new { area = "Deals", InfoId= id });
}
Don't use Int64, just use int.
As for your failing test, I would expect your test to fail all the time since TryUpdateModel will return false. As your running the code from a unit test, the controller context for a controller is not available, thus TryUpdateModel will fail.
You need to somehow fake/mock TryUpdateModel so that it does not actually run properly. Instead you "fake" it to return true. Here's some links to help:
How do I Unit Test Actions without Mocking that use UpdateModel?
The above SO answer shows an example using RhinoMocks which is a free mocking framework.
Or this:
http://www.codecapers.com/post/ASPNET-MVC-Unit-Testing-UpdateModel-and-TryUpdateModel.aspx
Debug your tests and check the modelstate errors collection, all the errors that the tryupdatemodel encountered should be there.
I'm trying to create a very basic MVC app based on a tutorial. I am using the default routing, and simple Views and Model.
The problem I am having is with the HttpPost Edit function. I am expecting an object of my "MyObject" type to be passed as the parameter, but it always comes back null.
Here are my Edit functions from the controller (the Get function works properly):
public ActionResult Edit(int? id)
{
if (!id.HasValue)
return RedirectToAction("Index");
var item = (from obj in mDB.MyDatabaseObjects
where obj.Id == id
select obj).First();
return View(item);
}
//
// POST: /Main/Edit/5
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(MyDatabaseObject someObject)
{
var original = (from obj in mDB.MyDatabaseObjects
where obj.Id == someObject.Id
select obj).First();
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
return View(original);
mDB.ApplyCurrentValues(original.EntityKey.EntitySetName, someObject);
mDB.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
Note that my (nearly identical) Create method works as expected:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create([Bind(Exclude="Id")] MyDatabaseObject newObject)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
return View();
int max = mDB.MyDatabaseObjects.Max(data => data.TaskOrder);
newObject.TaskOrder = max + 1;
mDB.AddToMyDatabaseObjects(newObject);
mDB.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
Thanks,
wTs
Ensure the values on your view for MyDatabaseObject are inside of the form. Validate these values are being posted over - inspect Request.Form or use change the method signature to use
FormsCollection collection
simply to validate the values are getting posted. If its choosing that method - it should be matching the properties to the form field - its generally very simple.
If I have the usual Edit actions, one for GET to retrieve an object by it's ID and to display it in an edit form. The next for POST to take the values in the ViewModel and update the object in the database.
public virtual ActionResult Edit(int id)
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(VehicleVariantEditSaveViewModel viewModel)
If an error occurs during model binding in the POST action, I understand I can RedirectToAction back to the GET action and preserve the ModelState validation errors by copying it to TempData and retrieving it after the redirect in the GET action.
if (TempData["ViewData"] != null)
{
ViewData = (ViewDataDictionary)TempData["ViewData"];
}
How do I then convert that ViewData, which includes the previous invalid ModelState, into a new model to send to the view so the user sees their invalid input with validation warnings? Oddly enough if I pass in a new instance of my ViewModel retrieved from the database (with the original valid data) to the View() this is ignored and the (invalid) data in the ViewData is displayed!
Thanks
I had a similar problem and decided to use the following pattern:
public ActionResult PersonalRecord(Guid id)
{
if (TempData["Model"] == null)
{
var personalRecord = _context.PersonalRecords.Single(p => p.UserId == id);
var model = personalRecord.ToPersonalRecordModel();
return View(model);
}
else
{
ViewData = (ViewDataDictionary) TempData["ViewData"];
return View(TempData["Model"]);
}
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult PersonalRecord(PersonalRecordModel model)
{
try
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
var personalRecord = _context.PersonalRecords.Single(u => u.UserId == model.UserId);
personalRecord.Email = model.Email;
personalRecord.DOB = model.DOB;
personalRecord.PrimaryPhone = model.PrimaryPhone;
_context.Update(personalRecord);
_context.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("PersonalRecord");
}
}
catch (DbEntityValidationException ex)
{
var errors = ex.EntityValidationErrors.First();
foreach (var propertyError in errors.ValidationErrors)
{
ModelState.AddModelError(propertyError.PropertyName, propertyError.ErrorMessage);
}
}
TempData["Model"] = model;
TempData["ViewData"] = ViewData;
return RedirectToAction("PersonalRecord", new { id = model.UserId });
}
Hope this helps.
I noticed that the Model is included in ViewData so you don't need to pass it in addition to the ViewData, what I don't understand is how you get at it to then return it to the view.
public ViewResult Edit(int id)
{
// Check if we have ViewData in the session from a previous attempt which failed validation
if (TempData["ViewData"] != null)
{
ViewData = (ViewDataDictionary)TempData["ViewData"];
}
VehicleVariantEditViewModel viewModel = new VehicleVariantControllerViewModelBuilder()
.BuildForEdit(id);
return View(viewModel);
}
The above works but obviously it's making an unnecessary call to the database to build a new Model (which gets automagically overwritten with the invalid values from the Model in the passed ViewData)
Confusing.
I am having the following code, However the errors causght not being displayed. What is wrong ?
public ActionResult DeleteRateGroup(int id)
{
try
{
RateGroup.Load(id).Delete();
RateGroupListModel list = new RateGroupListModel();
return GetIndexView(list);
}
catch (Exception e)
{
RateGroupListModel model = new RateGroupListModel();
if (e.InnerException != null)
{
if (e.InnerException.Message.Contains("REFERENCE constraint"))
ModelState.AddModelError("Error", "The user has related information and cannot be deleted.");
}
else
{
ModelState.AddModelError("Error", e.Message);
}
return RedirectToAction("RateGroup", model);
}
}
#model MvcUI.Models.RateGroupListModel
#{
View.Title = "RateGroup";
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
<h2>Rate Group</h2>
#Html.ValidationSummary()
#using (Html.BeginForm())
private ActionResult GetIndexView(RateGroupListModel model)
{
return View("RateGroup", model);
}
public ActionResult RateGroup(RateGroupListModel model)
{
return GetIndexView(model);
}
It looks like you're setting the ModelState error, then redirecting to another action. I'm pretty sure the ModelState gets lost when you do that.
Typically, you'd just render the RateGroup view directly from the DeleteRateGroup action, without the redirect, passing in your model if needed, like this:
return View("RateGroup", model);
If you want the ModelState to come along to the second action with you, take a look at MvcContrib's ModelStateToTempDataAttribute. Here's the attribute's description, from the MvcContrib source code's comments:
When a RedirectToRouteResult is returned from an action, anything in the ViewData.ModelState dictionary will be copied into TempData. When a ViewResultBase is returned from an action, any ModelState entries that were previously copied to TempData will be copied back to the ModelState dictionary.