I have a complex JSON object which is sent to the View without any issues (as shown below) but I cannot work out how Serialize this data back to a .NET object when it is passed back to the controller through an AJAX call. Details of the various parts are below.
var ObjectA = {
"Name": 1,
"Starting": new Date(1221644506800),
"Timeline": [
{
"StartTime": new Date(1221644506800),
"GoesFor": 200
}
,
{
"StartTime": new Date(1221644506800),
"GoesFor": 100
}
]
};
I am not sure how this object can be passed to a Controller Method, I have this method below where the Timelines object mirrors the above JS object using Properties.
public JsonResult Save(Timelines person)
The jQuery I am using is:
var encoded = $.toJSON(SessionSchedule);
$.ajax({
url: "/Timeline/Save",
type: "POST",
dataType: 'json',
data: encoded,
contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
beforeSend: function() { $("#saveStatus").html("Saving").show(); },
success: function(result) {
alert(result.Result);
$("#saveStatus").html(result.Result).show();
}
});
I have seen this question which is similar, but not quite the same as I am not using a forms to manipulate the data. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/267707/how-to-pass-complex-type-using-json-to-asp-net-mvc-controller
I have also seen references to using a 'JsonFilter' to manually deserialize the JSON, but was wondering if there is a way to do it nativly though ASP.NET MVC? Or what are the best practices for passing data in this way?
Edit:
This method should no longer be needed with the arrival of MVC 3, as it will be handled automatically -http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/07/27/introducing-asp-net-mvc-3-preview-1.aspx
You can use this ObjectFilter:
public class ObjectFilter : ActionFilterAttribute {
public string Param { get; set; }
public Type RootType { get; set; }
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext) {
if ((filterContext.HttpContext.Request.ContentType ?? string.Empty).Contains("application/json")) {
object o =
new DataContractJsonSerializer(RootType).ReadObject(filterContext.HttpContext.Request.InputStream);
filterContext.ActionParameters[Param] = o;
}
}
}
You can then apply it to your controller methods like so:
[ObjectFilter(Param = "postdata", RootType = typeof(ObjectToSerializeTo))]
public JsonResult ControllerMethod(ObjectToSerializeTo postdata) { ... }
So basically, if the content type of the post is "application/json" this will spring into action and will map the values to the object of type you specify.
This answer is a follow up to DaRKoN_'s answer that utilized the object filter:
[ObjectFilter(Param = "postdata", RootType = typeof(ObjectToSerializeTo))]
public JsonResult ControllerMethod(ObjectToSerializeTo postdata) { ... }
I was having a problem figuring out how to send multiple parameters to an action method and have one of them be the json object and the other be a plain string. I'm new to MVC and I had just forgotten that I already solved this problem with non-ajaxed views.
What I would do if I needed, say, two different objects on a view. I would create a ViewModel class. So say I needed the person object and the address object, I would do the following:
public class SomeViewModel()
{
public Person Person { get; set; }
public Address Address { get; set; }
}
Then I would bind the view to SomeViewModel. You can do the same thing with JSON.
[ObjectFilter(Param = "jsonViewModel", RootType = typeof(JsonViewModel))] // Don't forget to add the object filter class in DaRKoN_'s answer.
public JsonResult doJsonStuff(JsonViewModel jsonViewModel)
{
Person p = jsonViewModel.Person;
Address a = jsonViewModel.Address;
// Do stuff
jsonViewModel.Person = p;
jsonViewModel.Address = a;
return Json(jsonViewModel);
}
Then in the view you can use a simple call with JQuery like this:
var json = {
Person: { Name: "John Doe", Sex: "Male", Age: 23 },
Address: { Street: "123 fk st.", City: "Redmond", State: "Washington" }
};
$.ajax({
url: 'home/doJsonStuff',
type: 'POST',
contentType: 'application/json',
dataType: 'json',
data: JSON.stringify(json), //You'll need to reference json2.js
success: function (response)
{
var person = response.Person;
var address = response.Address;
}
});