MVC QueryString into Dynamic Object

Question

Is there a way to populate a Dynamic object with Query String parameters?

This is so that my search parameters in the QS can vary without binding them directly to a container object or having to change the signature of the search method.

e.g.

Inbound URL: www.test.com/Home/Search?name=john&product=car&type=open&type=all

public ActionResult Search()
{
    dynamic searchParams = // **something magic here**

    var model = getResults(searchParams);
    return View(model);
}

The populated searchParams object should look like:

{
    name = "john",
    product = "car",
    type = { "open", "all" }
}

Any ideas?

nemesv · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-17 09:48:01Z

11

One solution can be that you build up an ExpandoObject from the Request.QueryString which is a NameValueCollection.

It's easy to write the transformation and you can put it inside an extension method:

public static class NameValueCollectionExtensions:
{
    public static dynamic ToExpando(this NameValueCollection valueCollection)
    {
        var result = new ExpandoObject() as IDictionary<string, object>;
        foreach (var key in valueCollection.AllKeys)
        {
            result.Add(key, valueCollection[key]);
        }
        return result;
    }
}

And in your controller you can use like:

public ActionResult Search()
{
    dynamic searchParams = Request.QueryString.ToExpando();

    DoSomething(searchParams.name);  
    var model = getResults(searchParams);
    return View(model);
}

Note: You will need to do some additional transformation to handle to type property which won't be automatically an array by default.

answered Jul 17, 2012 at 9:48

nemesv

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2 Comments

stevethethread Over a year ago

I agree that this would be a nice reusable wrapper to solve the problem.

Nick Over a year ago

Having tried this the type property gets parsed as a csv string so it is perfectly usable as is. Thanks!

Vitalii Ivanov · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-17 09:50:26Z

0

I would rather use dynamic object and do following:

public class QSValues : DynamicObject
    {
        readonly Dictionary<string, object> dynamicProperties = new Dictionary<string, object>();

        public string ErrorMessage { get; set; }

        public bool IsSuccessful { get; set; }

        public override bool TrySetMember(SetMemberBinder binder, object value)
        {
            dynamicProperties[binder.Name] = value;

            return true;
        }

        public override bool TryGetMember(GetMemberBinder binder, out object result)
        {
            return dynamicProperties.TryGetValue(binder.Name, out result);
        }

and then parse QueryString parameters

answered Jul 17, 2012 at 9:50

Vitalii Ivanov

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1 Comment

Nick Over a year ago

I would rather use the accepted answer, but thanks for showing how it would be possible through inheritance.

stevethethread · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-17 09:48:20Z

-1

Something like this would do the trick

dynamic searchParams = new
            {
                name = "john",
                product = "car",
                type = new {aa =  "open", bb = "all"}
            };

Swapping out the strings for your query string values.

answered Jul 17, 2012 at 9:48

stevethethread

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1 Comment

Nick Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer. I considered this approach but it still binds me to having to know what values to look for when constructing this object.

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