Passing a complex objects array from client to server WITHOUT ajax

Question

I have a form that I would like the users to submit to the server. The (simplified) model looks like that:

public class MyData
{
    public int MyInt { get; set; }
    public ICollection<ComplexObject> MyArray { get; set; }
}

public class ComplexObject
{
    public int MyComplexObjectInt { get; set; }
    public string MyComplexObjectString { get; set; }
}

The controller action that receives this object looks like this:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(MyData model)
{
    ...
}

I have a "ComplexObject" array in the client side (jQuery) that I populate with user's input.

The problem: How can I set the "MyArray" value to contain the jQuery array values and retrieve this array in the controller?

Note: I've googled this issue quite a bit and all the solutions I've found talked about ajax. I'm not interesting in these solutions and I wonder if it can be done without ajax.

Thanks.

If something can be done with AJAX it can be done using a standard POST or GET request just as well. If your endpoint is process.aspx you just need to use <form action="process.aspx"> instead of $.ajax('process.aspx'). — pawel
– pawel, Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 10:44
@pawel ok, so how can I take this jquery array and pass it on to the controller along with the other model fields ("MyInt" in my case)? — ofirbt
– ofirbt, Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 10:48
Something along these lines: <input type="hidden" name="MyInt" value="<%= MyInt %>"> <input type="hidden" name="ComplexObject" value="" />, then set the value of ComplexObject input to JSON.stringify( jQueryArray ) before submitting the form. — pawel
– pawel, Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 10:56
@pawel - I was hoping for another solution, but ended up with yours. please post an answer so I can accept. Thx! — ofirbt
– ofirbt, Commented Jul 15, 2014 at 16:13

pawel · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-16 09:49:22Z

1

If something can be done with AJAX it can be done using a standard POST or GET request just as well. If your endpoint is process.aspx you just need to use <form action="process.aspx"> instead of $.ajax('process.aspx').

So if you need to get some data from your backend, combine it with user-provided data then process it on the server with a full round-trip (not AJAX) you can use a form and hidden inputs:

<form action="process.aspx" method="POST" id="myForm">
    <input type="hidden" name="MyInt" value="<%= MyInt %>" /> 
    <input type="hidden" name="ComplexObject"   value="" />
</form>

Then when you need to send the ComplexObject along with MyInt, you can serialize that object as JSON string, put it into the hidden field and submit the form:

$('[name="ComplexObject"]').val( JSON.stringify( userObject ) );
$('#myform').submit();

answered Jul 16, 2014 at 9:49

pawel

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1 Comment

Christoph Over a year ago

Simple but good, thank you!

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