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jQuery post to controller and redirect to ASP.NET MVC view

I have some checkboxes and a button (not in a form).
When the button is clicked, I have some jQuery and I am creating a post model which contains the values of the checked boxes and posting to a controller.
The controller then creates view models and I want to redirect the user to the correct view, passing the view model in to the view.
jQuery:
$.ajax({
url: AppSettings.baseUrl + "BOM/getMultiBOM",
type: 'POST',
data: JSON.stringify(data)
});
Controller:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult getMultiBOM(multiBOMPostModel multiBomsPostModel)
{
BOM bom = null;
foreach (int value in multiBomsPostModel.bomsArray)
{
bom = db.BOMs.Find(value);
}
BOMViewModel viewModel = getViewModel(bom, null);
return RedirectToAction("OpenMultiBOM", new { viewModel = viewModel, bom = bom });
}
public ActionResult OpenMultiBOM(BOMViewModel viewModel, BOM bom)
{
viewModel.projectModel = new ProjectViewModel
{
project = bom.Project
};
return View(viewModel);
}
It is probably a bit of a mess.
I think the jQuery is necessary to pass the checkbox values to the controller.
When I use RedirectToAction to the method which then returns the view, the model is not being passed through, presumably as it is sending the model as a query string.
The view model is not simple and contains lists, IEnumerables, and nested models.
Can anyone help with the most efficient way to redirect/return the view while passing the view model?
Answer: I kept the ajax to post my checkbox values to the controller
$.ajax({
url: AppSettings.baseUrl + "BOM/getMultiBOM",
type: 'POST',
data: JSON.stringify(dataArr),
}).done(function (result) {
location.href = "/BOM/OpenMultiBOM";
});
In my controller, I assigned the posted values to a postModel and then stored them in TempData. The key here was to return a Json value which would then allow the redirect on the client side to take place.
public ActionResult getMultiBOM(multiBOMPostModel multiBOMPostModel)
{
TempData["BOMs"] = multiBOMPostModel;
return Json("success");
}
I then had another HttpGet method which would load after the page is redirected by the Ajax result and cast the TempData to an object.
[HttpGet]
public ActionResult OpenMultiBOM(int? BomMarkupMessage = null)
{
var bomIds = TempData["BOMs"] as multiBOMPostModel;
}

I would persist the viewmodel server side, perhaps in a session variable, or perhaps as a TempData (TempData typically only lives until the next request), and pass a key for the session variable to the second controller in the case of session variable, or use the TempData directly in your view in the case of TempData. This would avoid passing the whole object back and forth multiple times.

So the way that i have done this before is to have an empty div in DOM.
<div id="partialViewContent">
<!-- Content will be loaded later. -->
</div>
If you have a default view, you'll need to set it to load from URI using the below snippet.
$("#partialViewContent").load("Controller/Action",
function (response, status) {
if (status !== "success") {
console.log("An error has occured when attempting to load partial view.");
}
});
When you post to your controller action via JQUERY, have the action return a partial view with the model. (Assume model is relevant to each partial view).
Then when your ajax is complete, replace the content in partialViewContent with the POST response.

How to pass custom values from paging params while syncfusion grid export?

I'm using syncfusion grid in my project. Need to export the data to an excel file from syncfusion button. Also I need to send a dropdown value to the controller action while syncfusion exporting the data to an excel file.
I followed the following demo which syncfusion gives,
http://help.syncfusion.com/ug/asp.net%20mvc/default.htm#!documents/throughgridbuilder40.htm
but can't find anything about how to pass custom parameter to the controller action.
Could someone please say me a way to pass the value from view to action on grid exporting.

In view page you can pass the string value in mappers and you can get the passed value in the controller post action
View page
#{string value= "passed";}
#(Html.Syncfusion().Grid("GenericListGrid")
. .. . ...........
.Mappers(map => { map.ExportExcelAction("ExportToExcel", new { passstring = value }); })
//passed the string value to the post action...
)
Controller
public ActionResult ExportToExcel(PagingParams args,string passstring)
//you can get the passed value here
{
var storedvalue = passstring;
return data.GridExportToExcel("GridExcel.xlsx", ExcelVersion.Excel2007,args.ExportOption);
}

ASP.NET MVC - How to call void controller method without leaving the view?

Question background:
I am implementing some basic 'shopping cart' logic to an MVC app. Currently when I click a link - denoted as 'Add To Cart' on the screen shot below this calls to an 'AddToCart' method in the 'ProductController' as shown:
Product.cshtml code:
#Html.ActionLink("Add To Cart", "AddToCart")
'AddToCart' method in the ProductController:
public void AddToCart()
{
//Logic to add item to the cart.
}
The issue:
Not an issue as such but currently when I click the 'Add To Cart' button on the ActionLink on the ProductDetail.cshtml view the page calls the 'AddToCart' method on the ProductController and gives a blank view on the page - as shown below. I want the view to stay on 'ProductDetail.cshtml' and just call the 'AddToCart' method, how do I do this?

Basically #Html.ActionLink() or <a></a> tag uses get request to locate the page. Hence whenever you clicked it, you request to your AddToCart action method in ProductController and if that action method returns null or void so a blank or empty page is shown as you experienced (because or #Html.ActionLink() get request by Default).
So if you want to add your value to cart then call AddToCart method using ajax i.e:
HTML:
#Html.ActionLink("Add To Cart", "AddToCart", null, new { id="myLink"})
Jquery or Javascript:
$("#myLink").click(function(e){
e.preventDefault();
$.ajax({
url:$(this).attr("href"), // comma here instead of semicolon
success: function(){
alert("Value Added"); // or any other indication if you want to show
}
});
});
'AddToCart' method in the ProductController:
public void AddToCart()
{
//Logic to add item to the cart.
}
Now this time when the call goes to AddToCart method it goes by using ajax hence the whole page will not redirect or change, but its an asynchronous call which execute the AddToCart action method in your ProductController and the current page will remains same. Hence the product will also added to cart and page will not change to blank.
Hope this helps.

The answer of Syed Muhammad Zeeshan is what you are looking for, however you may return an EmptyResult.
public ActionResult AddToCart()
{
//Logic to add item to the cart.
return new EmptyResult();
}
According to this it has no impact on your code ASP.Net MVC Controller Actions that return void
But maybe sometime you want to return data and then you could do something like this:
if (a)
{
return JSon(data);
}
else
{
return new EmptyResult();
}

As many people mentioned here you will need to use AJAX if your using asp.net MVC to hit a controller POST function without having to leave your view.
A good use case for this is if you want to upload a file without refreshing the page and save that on the server.
All of the
return new EmptyResult();
Wont work, they will still redirect you.
Here is how you do it, in your view have the follow form as an example:
<form enctype="multipart/form-data" id="my-form">
<p>
The CSV you want to upload:
</p>
<input type="file" class="file-upload" name="FileUpload" />
</div>
<div>
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-default" name="Submit" value="Upload">Upload</button>
</div>
</form>
Then in the JavaScript side you need to add this to your view with within Script tags.
$("#my-form").on('submit', function (event) {
event.preventDefault();
// create form data
var formData = new FormData();
//grab the file that was provided by the user
var file = $('.file-upload')[0].files[0];
// Loop through each of the selected files.
formData.append('file', file);
if (file) {
// Perform the ajax post
$.ajax({
url: '/YourController/UploadCsv',
data: formData,
processData: false,
contentType: false,
type: 'POST',
success: function (data) {
alert(data);
}
});
}
});
Your controller might look something like this to process this type of file:
[HttpPost]
public void UploadCsv()
{
var listOfObjects = new List<ObjectModel>();
var FileUpload = Request.Files[0]; //Uploaded file
//check we have a file
if (FileUpload.ContentLength > 0)
{
//Workout our file path
string fileName = Path.GetFileName(FileUpload.FileName);
string path = Path.Combine(Server.MapPath("~/App_Data/"), fileName);
//Try and upload
try
{
//save the file
FileUpload.SaveAs(path);
var sr = new StreamReader(FileUpload.InputStream);
string csvData = sr.ReadToEnd();
foreach (string r in csvData.Split('\n').Skip(1))
{
var row = r;
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(row))
{
//do something with your data
var dataArray = row.Split(',');
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//Catch errors
//log an error
}
}
else
{
//log an error
}
}

There are many ways to accomplish what you want, but some of them require a lot more advanced knowledge of things like JavaScript than you seem aware of.
When you write ASP.NET MVC applications, you are required to have more intimate knowledge of how browsers interact with the web server. This happens over a protocol called HTTP. It's a simple protocol on the surface, but it has many subtle details that you need to understand to successfully write ASP.NET MVC apps. You also need to know more about Html, CSS, and JavaScript.
In your case, you are creating an anchor tag (<a href="..."/>), which when click upon, instructs the browser to navigate to the url in the href. That is why you get a different page.
If you don't want that, there are a number of ways change your application. The first would be, instead of using an ActionLink, you instead simply have a form and post values back to your current controller. And call your "add to cart" code from your post action method.
Another way would be have your AddToCart method look at the referrer header (again, part of that more subtle knowledge of http) and redirect back to that page after it has processed its work.
Yet another way would be to use Ajax, as suggested by Syed, in which data is sent to your controller asynchronously by the browser. This requires that you learn more about JavaScript.
Another option is to use an embedded iframe and have your "add to cart" be it's own page within that iframe. I wouldn't necessarily suggest that approach, but it's a possibility.

Controller should return ActionResult. In this case a redirect to the caller page.

using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Mvc.Html;
public ActionResult Index()
{
HtmlHelper helper = new HtmlHelper(new ViewContext(ControllerContext, new WebFormView(ControllerContext, "Index"), new ViewDataDictionary(), new TempDataDictionary(), new System.IO.StringWriter()), new ViewPage());
helper.RenderAction("Index2");
return View();
}
public void Index2(/*your arg*/)
{
//your code
}

I was struggling with this and couldn't get it working with ajax.
Eventually got a working solution by making my controller method return type ActionResult rather than void and returning a RedirectToAction() and inputting the action relating to the view I wanted to remain on when calling the controller method.
public ActionResult Method()
{
// logic
return RedirectToAction("ActionName");
}

How to get textBox value of View in Controller without using Form?

I have a View -
#Html.TextBox("Text1","", new { style = "width:350px;" })<br />
<input type="submit" value="Pay" onclick="location.href='#Url.Action("Pay", "Test")'" />
where Pay is my action result and Test is my controller.
I would like to have Text1 value in controller.How can I achieve this with out using Form and not through ajax call?

You will have to use javascript. Start by giving your textbox an unique identifier:
#Html.TextBox("Text1", "", new { id = "text1", style = "width:350px;" }
and then in the onclick handler you could pass the value entered in the textbox to the controller action:
onclick="location.href='#Url.Action("Pay", "Test")?text=' + encodeURIComponent(document.getElementById('text1').value);"
and now your Pay controller action might look like this:
public ActionResult Pay(string text)
{
...
}

Controller expects HTTP verbs e.g. POST, GET, etc. POST requires a <form /> while GET requires query string. You could use query string to pass your values
function sendValues()
{
var value1 = document.getElementById('txtfirstname').value;
var value2 = document.getElementById('txtlastname').value;
var url = 'http://mysite.com/controllername/?firstname='+value1+'&lastname='+lastname;
location.href = url;
}
However, I don't this it's ok to expose values in query string if they are sensitive

It is possible using either Javascript/Jquery Ajax or Form.

Url.Action and two variables

I have #Html.PagedListPager(Model, page => Url.Action("GetTabData", new { page })
and inside my js file I have ready to use myTab variable which I need to send together with page in above example.
How can I do that?
Update:
I'm using js variable to determine which tab is user click and based on that value I'm quering data. Now I have implemeted pagination which uses above generated link. With this in place my ajax call for sending activeTab is broken, I need to send this value together with page inside above Url.Action.
This is js variable which I use to send over ajax to determine which tab is user click
$(function () {
var activeTab = null;
$('#tabs .tabLink').click(function (event) {
var activeTab = $(this).attr('href').split('-')[1];
GetTabData(activeTab);
});
GetTabData(ommitted on purpse)
});

I don't get the question clearly, but I am taking a guess here. Don't know if this is what you are looking for.
Note - You have GetTabData in both your javascript as well as cshtml code, I am hoping this is just coincidence, because the js function cannot be invoked via #Url.Action in this manner.
If you need to send two values as part of your URL, you could do it either in a RESTful way or have querystrings.
Option 1 -
Url.Action("GetTabData", new { page=2, tab="blah" })
Your corresponding controller action would look like
public ActionResult GetTabData(int page, string tab)
{
...
}
Option 2 -
create a querystring and append it to the URL
/GetTabData?page=2&tab=blah
In this case the controller action would look like this
public ActionResult GetTabData()
{
var params = Request.QueryString;
...
}