MVC3 Ajax Get String and post it back - ajax

Question

on MVC3 Page load i have a String in a Model which is should be the JSONObj.
private string CreateJSONObj(Model model)
{ return "{ name: 'test', Items: [{ test: 1 }, { test: 2 }]"; }
Model.jsonModel = CreateJSONObj(model);
Now i want to implement it in my page:
<script>var jsModel = eval('#Model.jsonModel');
var jsonModel = $.toJSON(jsModel);
$.ajax({
url: 'Page/SetJSON/',
type: "POST",
data: jsonModel,
datatype: "json",
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
success: function () {
$('#test').html('Saved').fadeIn(),
},
error: function () {
$("#test").html("error"),
}
});</script>
But the Controller gets a null Object. If i write the jsonstring into the script everthing is fine.
Should i use eval? But var jsModel = eval('#Model.jsonModel'); has no effect. What is wrong? :-)

Answer 1

You don't need to use a CreateJSONObj method or a jsonModel property on your model. In order to use it in the view you could simply use the JavaScriptSerializer class which will convert the server side model object into a javascript object:
<script type="text/javascript">
var jsModel = #Html.Raw(new JavaScriptSerializer().Serialize(Model));
$.ajax({
url: '#Url.Action("SetJSON", "Page")',
type: 'POST',
data: JSON.stringify(jsModel),
contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
success: function () {
$('#test').html('Saved').fadeIn();
},
error: function () {
$('#test').html('error');
}
});
</script>
This will successfully send the model to the following controller action:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult SetJSON(Model model)
{
...
}
where the Model class contains all the necessary information:
public class Model
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public IEnumerable<Item> Items { get; set; }
}
public class Item
{
public int Test { get; set; }
}
and the controller:
public class PageController: Controller
{
// Used to render the view
public class Index()
{
var model = new Model
{
Name = "Test",
Items = new[]
{
new Item { Test = 1 },
new Item { Test = 2 },
}
};
return View(model);
}
// Used to handle the AJAX POST request
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult SetJSON(Model model)
{
...
}
}