ASP .NET MVC 4 binding json sent through ajax to custom class in controller not working correctly

Question

I have following controller:

    [HttpPost]
    public JsonResult SaveCompensationComponent(int agencyId, CompensationComponentAllData compensationComponent)
    {
        int? id = _dmsCompensation.SaveCompensationComponent(agencyId, compensationComponent);
        return Json(id, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

Definition of the CompensationComponentAllData class:

public class CompensationComponentAllData
{
    some properties

    ...

    public CompensationObject CompensationElement { get; set; }

    public CompensationObject CompensationBasis { get; set; }

    ...        

    some properties

    ...
}

CompensationObject class:

public class CompensationObject
{
    some properties

    ...

    public ActivityData ByActivity { get; set; }

    ...        

    some properties

    ...
}

ActivityData class:

public class ActivityData
{
    some properties

    ...

    public List<int> GoalCategories { get; set; }

    public List<int> Policies { get; set; }

    ...        

    some properties

    ...


    public ActivityData() { }

    public ActivityData(CompensationObjectByActivity record) {

        ...
    }
}

In javascript I create appropriate objects and send that through ajax (contentType: 'application/json' and JSON.stringify used before sending data). Everything is correctly sent to server because I executed following code in the controller:

HttpContext.Request.InputStream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
var jsonStringData = new StreamReader(HttpContext.Request.InputStream).ReadToEnd();

And jsonStringData had correct value:

"{\"agencyId\":\"332\",\"compensationComponent\":{\"Id\":431,\"CompensationComponentInfoId\":509,\"AgencyJobPositionId\":\"306\",\"Name\":\"ggggggg44\",\"Description\":\"fdssssssss\",\"CompensationComponentImpactLevelId\":\"1\",\"CompensationProductionTypeId\":\"1\",\"CompensationFrequency\":{\"Id\":\"1\"},\"CompensationDateTypeId\":\"3\",\"EffectiveDate\":\"06/10/2015\",\"BasisDifferentThanElement\":false,\"CompensationElement\":{\"ObjectTypeId\":\"3\",\"ByActivity\":{\"CompensationAttributeId\":\"21\",\"UnitsId\":\"3\",\"PoliciesLevel\":\"Individual Company/Policy\",\"Policies\":[\"572\",\"139\",\"138\"],\"VerificationLevelId\":\"1\"}},\"CompensationBasis\":{\"ObjectTypeId\":\"3\",\"ByActivity\":{\"CompensationAttributeId\":\"21\",\"UnitsId\":\"3\",\"PoliciesLevel\":\"Individual Company/Policy\",\"Policies\":[\"572\",\"139\",\"138\"],\"VerificationLevelId\":\"1\"}},\"CompensationStructureId\":\"2\",\"CompensationRateId\":\"1\",\"FixedValue\":\"10.00\",\"UseChargeback\":false}}"

Now problem is that after binding compensationComponent.CompensationElement.ByActivity.Policies has a null value even though it should be a list with 3 elements.

What makes me even more confused is that in the same time compensationComponent.CompensationBasis.ByActivity.Policies is bound correctly. Also compensationComponent.CompensationElement.ByActivity.GoalCategories is bound correctly too.

EDIT:

This is my ajax call:

$.ajax({
    type: type,
    url: url,
    data: JSON.stringify(data),
    success: callback,
    error: function (xhr, ajaxOptions, thrownError) {
        ...
    },
    contentType: 'application/json',
    cache: cache
});

If I remove JSON.stringify and try something as suggested in this post I get error in binding so 500 is just returned.

Please help.

Have you tried changing the JSON format from "Policies":["572","139","138"] to "Policies":[572,139,138] so it is posted as a number instead of as strings? — Brad C
– Brad C, Commented Jun 8, 2015 at 16:53
@br4d when do you mean? I have list of ints in js but stringify converst everything to string. Also if that would be a problem then compensationComponent.CompensationBasis.ByActivity.Policies wouldn't be bound too. — jbojcic
– jbojcic, Commented Jun 8, 2015 at 17:32
Try to remove CompensationBasis from JSON and check if second object will be bound correctly maybe it will give us some hint. — Mariusz
– Mariusz, Commented Jun 8, 2015 at 17:35

Aleksandr Ivanov · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-10 20:12:37Z

0

I think that's a little bit strange that you want to receive part of the JSON as method parameters. I think you need to introduce a class for root object:

public class CompensationModel
{
    public int AgencyId { get; set; }
    public CompensationComponentAllData CompensationComponent { get; set; }
}

And your controller method will take this class as a parameter:

[HttpPost]
public JsonResult SaveCompensationComponent(CompensationModel model)

I suggest you to use services like json2csharp, let's computer does the boring work.

And few comments about JSON that you send. JSON.stringify doesn't change types:

JSON.stringify({a: [1, 2, 3]}) // -> "{"a":[1,2,3]}"
JSON.stringify({a: ["1", "2", "3"]}) // -> "{"a":["1","2","3"]}"

So if you get strings in your JSON that menas that javascript values are of type string. In C# models you expect to have int, so you might consider to convert data in javascript, though MVC is smart enough to convert these values.

edited Jun 10, 2015 at 20:12

answered Jun 9, 2015 at 8:51

Aleksandr Ivanov

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3 Comments

jbojcic Over a year ago

I tried like that and now it's not even setting the policies for CompensationBasis. When I put agencyId to root model it was acting same like before root model.

jbojcic Over a year ago

For now I made a workaround by putting policies list to one place higher in hierarchy and it works but I would really like to discover why is this happening,

Aleksandr Ivanov Over a year ago

I updated my answer. Check CompensationModel class and SaveCompensationComponent method parameters.

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