i have an Ajax ActionLink which normally just returns a PartialView (which is just a UserControl ascx file) however, my needs have changed and i want to return another PartialView (so a total of two PartialViews) that occupy different areas of my page... of course i can't call " return PartialView("UserControl.ascx") " twice in a row consecutivelly... so my question is what would be an elegant work around for this?
how can i return two PartialViews WITHOUT wrapping these two PartialViews up in a larger parent view? i hesitate to do this because both items are in a different part of the html table which would require me to include practically the entire page in the parent view due to the structure of the table, and in this case lots of html data unnecessarily would be sent to the browser at each request - defeating the purpose of an ajax call/partial update (correct me if i'm wrong).
Im sorry I misread, i thought you wanted to call an action method statically. If you want to update 2 parts with one click then I dont really now how you would do it with the included apis. What you could do is create a little javascript (jquery!) that takes over the link´s click, and then have the script load the render page with ajax.
I´ll post an example in a few minutes :P
<script src="../../Scripts/jquery-1.3.2.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
$("#TheLink").click(){
$("#PlaceToUpdate1").load("/Controller/Method/View1");
$("#PlaceToUpdat2").load("/Controller/Method/View2");
}
});
});
</script>
im not sure if that will work exactly like that (no compiler, just top of my head) but its something like that. Of course the link should be a dummy link that doesnt do anything, since the script is the one actually doing it (though you can intercept the links methods if you send back a false or something like that)
You could manually construct the partial views in HTML helper methods. However, the feasibility of that approach depends on whether or not the partial views will be reused in other pages. I build a data grid control from scratch using HTML helper methods. Some of my pages have three or four of these data grids managed by a jQuery accordion control to reduce the screen footprint. I chose building an HTML helper for a number of reasons. First, I expected to use this control throughout my applications. Second, I didn't want to burden my views with a bunch of conditional logic. Finally, I wanted to be able to change the grid's configuration (including the model) within the view, so I wouldn't have to recompile every time I changed it. The grid supports both LINQ-to-SQL models and user-defined classes (using reflection), has a built-in pager control and a search mechanism that supports multiple search fields in a grid. I also set up the columns so that they can either display formatted text, link to a controller action or hold a mailto: link. Within the grid itself, you can define the model to populate the grid, optionally set the columns to display, specify the action and controller for creates, and specify a JavaScript function for deletes (because I use the jQuery dialog plugin for confirmation messages). All these changes are managed in the view itself.
Learning how to leverage HTML helper methods gives you the closest thing to ASP.NET server controls that MVC provides.
Related
The thing my employer asked for is a razor search form for items that has optional filters that show per filter value how many items there are. For example, filter option "fruits" has option "oranges" and behind "oranges" you can see the amount of oranges. Every time a filter value is chosen, the entire content must change and the number of items behind every filter value must change because the number of items that have that value and the value of the applied filter will be less. Per filter, it must be possible to pick several values. The data has to be gained from an ASP.NET API which I also have to make. It may not be directly from the database because we want to use this API functionality for other applications as well.
An example of what I mean can be seen on this website.
All of this has to be made in ASP.NET and with an ASP.NET API.
Let me know if any clarification is needed. Thanks in advance.
Break out the dynamic content in a partial view. And create an action method on the server that takes filter parameters as input and then returns the partial view with the results. On page load use AJAX to pass the selected filter parameters and load the resulting content as a partial view. ON change of filter call the AJAX method again. Whatever HTML content is returned by the partial view, place it on the page.
I was wondering if it is possible to modify a view HTML before sending it to the browser.
I wanted to create a custom tag compiler where i can insert a simple tag as <my-parsing-tag></my-parsing-tag> on the view and replace it for some specific HTML.
I'm already using OnActionExecuting and OnActionExecuted filters to execute some actions on the context (Change ViewBags, View names, Sessions, etc.), i also tried to do it there but i couldn't find the correct place to get the HTML, well i don't even know if it's possible to do so.
Is it possible or i would need to store my views HTML on the database to accomplish what i need ?
EDIT
As #Juan asked, why i need it:
I'm working with a call to action system where the user can place some specific modal campaigns on the page he wants just using those simple tags or selecting the page that will display it.
After that i will append the selected HTML to the view before sending it to the user. This system is intended for users that can't work editing the views since they don't work with HTML.
EDIT 2
After some research i have tried to implement a custom RazorView, the code is here with the Index View HTML, but now i have two problems:
The first one is that my Index View has some HTML that is coming from the database and is placed there using vars on my ViewModel and instead of the call to action HTML being placed at the end of my Index View, it's being placed before the ViewModel vars. The second problem is that the HTML is being duplicated instead of replaced. Here is an image of how the result looks like:
http://imgur.com/a/elul1
You could use an HtmlHelper extension for this:
http://tech.trailmax.info/2012/08/creating-custom-html-helper-in-mvc3/
I would suggest the following:
Define a container in your template (layout most likely) that will receive any content the user decides to "drop" into it via the admin panel.
You let the view know there is something to display via the ViewBag.
The view uses information you passed in order to render the desired content.
How it renders is where the HTMLHelper extensions come in. You could create an extension method which renders partial views based on the information you pass to it or maybe a set of extension methods that you call selectively based on the desired widget.
I am working on a project which has a requirement to build "pages" on the fly. A page can consist of various controls like textboxes, checkbox etc. Currently when the user wants to add a new textbox I make a ajax request and render partial view and return the HTML and show it on client side. This works but I also want to handle the data properly when these dynamic controls are filled up by user. In a way if I am not wrong I need to be able to make array of HTML controls. Now if we give static List to our view and generate textboxes using Html.TextboxFor we see that the name generated is something:
[0].FruitName
[1].FruitName
[2].FruitName
How do I handle this index part when making a Jquery Ajax request so that I always get the correct indexes and render it on client.
If anybody has any better solution than making ajax request then also please let me know. I need to handle the dynamic rendering of HTML controls and also access their values properly when posted back to server.
Take a look at Non-Sequential Indices at http://haacked.com/archive/2008/10/23/model-binding-to-a-list.aspx.
He introduced a helper method to generate it as well.
Also, I think you can just pass an index with your ajax call which then gets passed from Controller to your partial view and use it to generate a proper indexed TextBox.
Update:
I've asked a very similar question at Submit javascript dynamically added elements to controller method like Stackoverflow
In the past when I've used jqgrid all i have done is had a static web service and the grid loads as the page does. Now I need to have a form that i want to send values from to the service, and the results need to be in the grid.
I'm struggling with a couple of things -
How do i format the url function in the grid to send parameters with it, in the past i have got away with just url: 'JsonData.asmx/GetData
How do i actually call the update method of the grid from a button?
I'm writing the web app in c#, dotnet 4
Thanks
Luke
I see no problem in what you explain. If you could fill the grid data using url: 'JsonData.asmx/GetData' it should continue to work inside of the form. You should only verify the font size which you use in the form to have good look together with the grid.
If you need reload data in the grid you can use $("#grid_id").trigger('reloadGrid',[{page:1}]); (see here).
One other possible problem which you could have: one should create jqGrid once. If you for example need create the form once which contain one grid and later change the for contain to have another grid you could have to use GridUnload method. See here and the demo and here.
If I have a fairly crud-based area of my app, do I really have to create separate "Create" and "Edit" views? The HTML will be practically the same. I want an "Edit" and "Create" action to both render a "Show.aspx" view, but certainly Resharper 5 is complaining about there being no "Show" action.
What's the best practice?
There are alternatives. Basically off the top of my head you have three options.
You could either make a user control and have very lightweight edit and create pages.
If you are using ASP.MVC 2 you can capture the layouts as attributes on your view model and use the new template helpers DisplayFor and in your edit / create case EditorFor / EditorForModel.
You can specify a view name on the call to View from your controller action.
You don't "have" to do anything. MVC is based on conventions, which are valuable, but these are not technically required. In your case, I think it's more important to avoid redundant code.
You might consider having only an "Update" action and an Update.aspx view (form) to go with it.
Use the same form for both creating and updating. The only difference is, when creating, the form won't have an object ID.
After submitting, if the Update action sees an ID, it loads the object. If not, it instantiates a new one. Then just update the properties from the form, and commit (save).
So, one action and one view. Less code and it keeps convention.
You can specify which view you want the controller method to use, so there is no strict requirement for having two different views.
If your Add and Edit views look exactly the same, but you want to make it clear to the user whether they are adding or editing, you can simply push a different title into the ViewData, and display it in the shared view.
You can also put views in the "shared" folder, or create .ASCX partials that can be shared.
Go for it. It makes perfect sense. View should always be set up for front-end developers convenience, as controllers can pass data to any view, without any extra effort. You shouldn't feel restricted to do something, just because ReSharper says so.