Tell me more ×
Stack Overflow is a question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite

I have a class called CategoryModel, one of the properties of which is a list of objects of the same type. So CategoryModel.Categories is of type List<CategoryModel>.

On the category index page, I display an editor for each category so that the user can change any of the category names without having to go to a dedicated page to do so. Like so:

<ul id="categories>
    @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Categories)
</ul>

And the editor template for CategoryModel looks like this:

<li class="folder">
    @using (Html.BeginForm("Edit", "Category", new { id = Model.Key }, FormMethod.Post, new { @class = "ajaxoff"})) {
        @Html.ValidationSummary(true)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Key)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ParentKey)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Sequence)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.IncludeDeleted)

        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Name, null, new { @class = "catName" })
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Name)

        <input type="submit" value="Save" class="icon save" />
    }
</li>

The problem I have is that submitting the form does not bind correctly to the Edit action of the CategoryController:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(CategoryModel category)
{
    // At this point all properties in category are null
}

If I check the names on the hidden fields and textboxes, they are labelled based on their position in the current category (e.g. Categories[0].Name). If I create a dedicated edit view, however, they are simply named according to the field name (e.g. Name).

I have tried changing the controller to accept a list of Categories:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(List<CategoryModel> categories)
{
    var category = categories.First();
}

This works if I submit the very first category, but none of the others (in those cases Categories is null).

I have also tried changing how I display my EditorFor, by doing this:

<ul id="categories>
    @foreach (var cat in Model.Categories)
    {
        @Html.EditorFor(model => cat);
    }
</ul>

Which changes the field names to be the same for each category (e.g. all category names are called cat.Name), which I believe is a step in the right direction.

So how do I bind correctly to my controller? I realise that I could submit the whole parent category and then save each subcategory, but this seems like a very inefficient way to submit a single change.

share|improve this question
add comment

2 Answers

up vote 0 down vote

Your Edit action accept CategoryModel category so you need to reset model prefix for right binding. For this you need to create your own extension method for HtmlHelper like this:

public class BeginHtmlScope : IDisposable
    {
        private readonly TemplateInfo templateInfo;
        private readonly string previousHtmlFieldPrefix;

        public BeginHtmlScope(TemplateInfo templateInfo, string htmlFieldPrefix)
        {
            this.templateInfo = templateInfo;

            previousHtmlFieldPrefix = templateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix;
            templateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix = htmlFieldPrefix;
        }

        public void Dispose()
        {
            templateInfo.HtmlFieldPrefix = previousHtmlFieldPrefix;

        }
    }
    public static class MyHtmlExtensions
    {
        public static IDisposable BeginHtmlScope(this HtmlHelper html, string htmlFieldPrefix)
        {
            return new BeginHtmlScope(html.ViewData.TemplateInfo, htmlFieldPrefix);
        }
    }

And then use it inside your editor template:

@using (Html.BeginHtmlScope(""))
{
   <li class="folder">
    @using (Html.BeginForm("Edit", "Category", new { id = Model.Key }, FormMethod.Post, new { @class = "ajaxoff"})) {
        @Html.ValidationSummary(true)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Key)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ParentKey)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Sequence)
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.IncludeDeleted)

        @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Name, null, new { @class = "catName" })
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Name)

        <input type="submit" value="Save" class="icon save" />
    }
</li>

}
share|improve this answer
 
Unfortunately this has the same issue as the foreach loop - the field names are Categories[0].Name, Categories[1].Name etc, and the CategoryModel does not bind to the Edit action. –  Maloric Jul 12 at 13:20
 
I'm sorry for misunderstanding your question. I've edited my answer. –  Oleksii Aza Jul 12 at 14:17
add comment
up vote 0 down vote accepted

I discovered how to do this. There is an overload for Html.EditorFor that allows you to specify the htmlFieldName property (the third parameter in the example below):

@foreach (var cat in Model.Categories)
{
    @Html.EditorFor(model => cat, null, "");
}

This renders all of the field names without any prefix and allows me to submit any single category successfully.

share|improve this answer
add comment

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.