Develop Reference

Issue when creating a reference of a Model without using Html.EditorFor() asp.net mvc

I am facing an issue when trying to create a reference of my model Restriction:
public int RestrictionID
public string portefeuille
public int AssetID
public int SegmentID
public int SubAssetID
public int Min
public int Max
public string logic_op
public virtual Asset Asset
public virtual Segment Segment
public virtual SubAsset SubAsset
That is instead of using the normal template in create view with #Html.EditorFor I am using a dropdown list with a script behind to fill the dropdown depending on the previous selected item that's work well, but when submitting nothing happen no error no redirecting, and of course the reference is not added to the database.
Here is my Create view:
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.portefeuille)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.portefeuille)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.portefeuille)
</div>
#Html.DropDownList("Asset", ViewBag.AssetID as SelectList, "Select a Asset Class", new { id="Asset" })<br />
<select id="Segment" name="segment"></select><br /> //Here I am not using Html.EditorFor as EF does
<select id="subAsset" name="SubAsset"></select><br />
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Min)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Min)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Min)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Max)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Max)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Max)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.logic_op)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.logic_op)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.logic_op)
</div>
and my RestrictionController: ( I omitted useless parts)
public ActionResult Create()
{
ViewBag.AssetID = new SelectList(db.Assets, "AssetID", "Asset_Name");
return View();
}
//
// POST: /Restriction/Create
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(Restriction restriction)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
db.Restrictions.Add(restriction);
db.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
ViewBag.AssetID = new SelectList(db.Assets, "AssetID", "Asset_Name", restriction.AssetID);
return View(restriction);
}
Can somebody help to find where is the problem ?
Thank you for your help!

Name of the property in the model a should be same as name of the element in the html in order to bind values after the post back.That is why the code below
<select id="Segment" name="segment"></select><br /> //Here I am not using Html.EditorFor as EF does
<select id="subAsset" name="SubAsset"></select><br />
should be replaced by.
<select id="Segment" name="SegmentID"></select><br /> //Here I am not using Html.EditorFor as EF does
<select id="subAsset" name="SubAssetID"></select><br />
Always look at the HTML generated by any technology. This will help you to understand how the things are working.

Why is my model not passed as parameter with form post

I'm having trouble understanding why my model is not passed along with its values to my controller when posting a form.
I have a view with a strongly typed model (UnitContract) that is being fetched from a webservice, that holds a set of values. In my action I'm trying to fetch int ID and bool Disabled fields that exists in my model. When debugging, I see that my model being passed from the form doesn't contain any values at all. What am I missing?
My view (UnitContract as strongly typed model):
...
<form class="pull-right" action="~/UnitDetails/EnableDisableUnit" method="POST">
<input type="submit" class="k-button" value="Enable Unit"/>
</form>
My controller action:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult EnableDisableUnit(UnitContract model)
{
var client = new UnitServiceClient();
if (model.Disabled)
{
client.EnableUnit(model.Id);
}
else
{
client.DisableUnit(model.Id);
}
return RedirectToAction("Index", model.Id);
}

Sounds like you need to add the fields from your model to your form. Assuming your view accepts a UnitContract model, then something like this should work:
<form class="pull-right" action="~/UnitDetails/EnableDisableUnit" method="POST">
#Html.HiddenFor(x => x.Id)
#Html.HiddenFor(x => x.Disabled)
<input type="submit" class="k-button" value="Enable Unit"/>
</form>
Now when you submit the form, it should submit the fields to your model.

The MVC framework will use the data from the form to create the model. As your form is essentially empty, there is no data to create the model from, so you get an object without any data populated.
The only data that is sent from the browser in the request when you post the form, is the data that is inside the form. You have to put the data for the properties in the model as fields in the form, so that there is something to populate the model with.

Look into using #Html.HiddenFor(). Put these in your form, and the data you want to see posted back to your controller should be there. For example, your form would look something like...
<form class="pull-right" action="~/UnitDetails/EnableDisableUnit" method="POST">
#Html.HiddenFor(x => x.Id)
#Html.HiddenFor(x => x.IsDisabled)
<input type="submit" class="k-button" value="Enable Unit"/>
</form>

Let's say you have a model like this:
public class UnitContract
{
public int Id { get; set; }
public DateTime SignedOn { get; set; }
public string UnitName { get; set; }
}
Your view would look something like this:
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<fieldset>
<legend>UnitContract</legend>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Id)
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.SignedOn)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.SignedOn)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.SignedOn)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.UnitName)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.UnitName)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.UnitName)
</div>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
</p>
</fieldset>
}
In your controller:
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(UnitContract unitContract)
{
// do your business here .... unitContract.Id has a value at this point
return View();
}
Hope this is helpful.

ModelState Errors not showing in view

I have an action that saves a record by calling my BLL entity's Save method. The entity takes care of its own internal validation and if a field is required but fails validation because a user didn't enter a value then the entity throws up an error. I'm catching that error in my action and returning the same view. The problem is the error isn't showing in my ValidationSummary.
Yes I realize I have view model validation by attibute with MVC but this entity is used elsewhere and must have redundant validation if the UI doesn't/can't do it, such as used in a batch service job.
Here is my action:
public ActionResult Edit(EntityModel model) {
if (ModelState.IsValid) {
var entity = new Entity(model.ID, model.Name, model.IsActive);
try {
entity.Save(User.Identity.Name);
return RedirectToAction("List");
}
catch (Exception ex) {
ModelState.AddModelError("", ex.Message);
}
}
return View(model);
}
Here is my View:
#model ELM.Select.Web.Models.EntityModel
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Edit";
}
<h2>Edit</h2>
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<fieldset>
<legend>DefermentTypeViewModel</legend>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ID)
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Name)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Name)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Name)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.IsActive)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.IsActive)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.IsActive)
</div>
<p>
<input type="submit" value="Save" />
</p>
</fieldset>
}
Why wouldn't the error I add to modelstate be shown in my validationsummary?

Change your View code:
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
to:
#Html.ValidationSummary(false)
As per the MSDN Reference on ValidationSummary(), here is the method definition:
public static MvcHtmlString ValidationSummary(
this HtmlHelper htmlHelper,
bool excludePropertyErrors
)
Notice that the bool parameter, if you set it to true (like you originally did) you will exclude property errors. Change that to false and that should get you what you want.

Validation on ASP.net MVC3 Model with Dynamic Properties

I am working on an app where I have a requirement to be able to load object properties at runtime from a database. The customer wants to be able to add attributes to the database and have them show up in the app. I am accomplishing this by giving my model a list of Field objects that contain a name, a type, and a value. This works well for displaying and editing project properties, but I'm having trouble with validation in the editor view. Thanks for your help.
I want to be able to do this in my Edit action:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(Movie movie)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
db.Entry(movie).State = EntityState.Modified;
db.SaveChanges();
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
return View(movie);
}
Normal view:
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<fieldset>
<legend>Movie</legend>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ID)
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Title)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Title)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Title)
</div>
</fieldset>
}
What I need to do:
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<fieldset>
<legend>Movie</legend>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ID)
for(i = 1 to n) {
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Fields[i].Name)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Fields[i].Value)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Fields[i].Value)
</div>
}
</fieldset>
}
Model:
public class Movie
{
public Movie()
{
this.Fields = new List<Field>();
}
public List<Movie> Movies { get; set; }
}
Field Class:
public class Field
{
public string Name { get; set; }
public Type Type { get; set; }
public object Value { get; set; }
}

I believe something like this should work:
#using (Html.BeginForm()) {
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<fieldset>
<legend>Movie</legend>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ID)
#{int i = 0;}
#foreach(var field in model.Fields) {
var htmlFieldName = string.Format("Fields[{0}]", i);
<div class="editor-label">
<label for="#htmlFieldName">#field.Title</label>
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => field, null, htmlFieldName)
#Html.ValidationMessage(htmlFieldName)
</div>
}
</fieldset>
}
(Note that I made up how you're producing your label text, since using the actual value as the label didn't make sense to me).
The POST should end up with values like this:
ID=123
Fields[0]=Jaws
Fields[1]=VeggieTales
...
... and that should automatically bind to your Movie model, provided the model has, for example, a List<string> named Fields. If your model doesn't look like that, this should at least get you on the right track.
Update
In your comment, you explain that you are trying to produce an editor for an object. There are two major points of difficulty here:
MVC relies on the static type returned in the lambda expression you give to EditorFor to determine which kind of editor it should produce. To override this, you will need to provide a specific template name where my original suggestion shows you providing null:
#Html.EditorFor(model => field.Value, field.Type.Name, htmlFieldName + ".Value")
You'll probably need to tweak this to make it provide the right template name for types like Integer, but this should give you the general idea.
When posting back, there is no way for the server to know that Field[0] is an int, etc. You can either:
Provide hidden values to specify each type, and then use a custom model binder that can consume this information to build each Field based on the combined Type and Value.
Recreate the structure of the Movie object on the server side based on the Movie's ID, and then walk through each of it's Fields calling:
TryUpdateModel((dynamic)field, string.Format("Field[{0}]", i));
There are probably other options, but that's about all the time I'm willing to put into this today.

#Html.ValidationMessageFor crashes when I try to edit an item

Why is my #Html.ValidationMessageFo not working? When I run the application, nothing happens and it allows everything to be entered. And it also crashes when I try to edit an item in my edit view, which is below. I have the following:
<div class="editor-label">
#* #Html.LabelFor(model => model.Posted)*#
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Posted, Model.Posted = DateTime.Now)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.sendinghome)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Cartypes)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Cartypes)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Cartypes)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.RegNum)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.RegNum)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.RegNum)
</div>
<div class="editor-label">
#Html.LabelFor(model => model.Regprice)
</div>
<div class="editor-field">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Image)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Regprice)
</div>

Here is how validation works.
Let's say you have the following model:
public class MyModel {
[Required]
public string MyProperty { get; set; }
}
Note the Required attribute, it is a data annotation attribute that specifies that MyProperty is a required field.
MyModel is used by the following view (MyView.cshtml):
#model MyNamespace.MyModel
#using (Html.BeginForm("MyAction", "MyController")) {
#Html.LabelFor(m => m.MyProperty)
#Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.MyProperty)
#Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.MyProperty)
<input type="submit" value="Click me">
}
Then, when this form gets posted to the MyAction action of MyController, the validation of your model will be performed. What you have to do is check whether your model is valid or not.
It can be done using the ModelState.IsValid property.
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult MyAction(MyModel model) {
if (ModelState.IsValid) {
// save to db, for instance
return RedirectToAction("AnotherAction");
}
// model is not valid
return View("MyView", model);
}
If the validation failed, the view will be rendered again using the different errors that are present in the ModelState object. Those errors will be used and displayed by the ValidationMessageFor helper.

Exactly, Bertrand explains it right, you could also use jquery validation too and eliminate the calls to the server validating on the browser. (asp.net mvc takes care of validating the rules on your model automatically)