Model binding new Datatables 1.10 parameters

Question

In Datatables 1.10 the ajax server side parameters changed from

public class DataTableParamModel
{ 
    public string sEcho{ get; set; }
    public string sSearch{ get; set; }
    public int iDisplayLength{ get; set; }
    public int iDisplayStart{ get; set; }
    public int iColumns{ get; set; }
    public int iSortingCols{ get; set; }
    public string sColumns{ get; set; }
}

to (API Here http://datatables.net/manual/server-side)

columns[i][data]    
columns[i][name]    
columns[i][orderable]
columns[i][search][regex]
columns[i][search][value]   
columns[i][searchable]  
...     
draw    
length  
order[i][column]    
order[i][dir]
... 
search[regex]
search[value]   
start

Some are easy to bind

public class DataTableParamModel
{ 
    public string draw { get; set; }
    public int length{ get; set; }
    public int start { get; set; }
}

But the new array format looks tricky.

What is the new appropriate model to map the new parameter format?

Answer 1

I changed my javascript to use the legacy ajax params option which uses the old parameters to send to the server. This is done through $.fn.dataTable.ext.legacy.ajax = true; so now my code becomes something like...

$.fn.dataTable.ext.legacy.ajax = true;
var datatable = $('#data-table').DataTable({
    "processing": true,
    "serverSide": true,
    "ajax": "MyController/AjaxHandlerPaging",
    "pageLength": 25,
    "order": [[2, 'desc']],
    "columns": []
});

Answer 2

Give this a try @shoe: datatables-mvc project: https://github.com/ALMMa/datatables-mvc

Answer 3

Know this post is 2 years old but to those who want to use this with ASP.Net Core MVC 6. This is the converted/ upgraded answer provided by @Shoe

Model Binder:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Internal;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace TrackingAndTraining.Models
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Model Binder for DTParameterModel (DataTables)
    /// </summary>
    public class DTModelBinder : IModelBinder
    {
        public Task BindModelAsync(ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
        {

            var request = bindingContext.ActionContext.HttpContext.Request.Form;
            // Retrieve request data
            var draw = Convert.ToInt32(request["draw"]);
            var start = Convert.ToInt32(request["start"]);
            var length = Convert.ToInt32(request["length"]);
            // Search
            var search = new DTSearch
            {
                Value = request["search[value]"],
                Regex = Convert.ToBoolean(request["search[regex]"])
            };
            // Order
            var o = 0;
            var order = new List<DTOrder>();
            while (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(request["order[" + o + "][column]"]))
            {
                order.Add(new DTOrder
                {
                    Column = Convert.ToInt32(request["order[" + o + "][column]"]),
                    Dir = request["order[" + o + "][dir]"]
                });
                o++;
            }
            // Columns
            var c = 0;
            var columns = new List<DTColumn>();
            while (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(request["columns[" + c + "][name]"]))
            {
                columns.Add(new DTColumn
                {
                    Data = request["columns[" + c + "][data]"],
                    Name = request["columns[" + c + "][name]"],
                    Orderable = Convert.ToBoolean(request["columns[" + c + "][orderable]"]),
                    Searchable = Convert.ToBoolean(request["columns[" + c + "][searchable]"]),
                    Search = new DTSearch
                    {
                        Value = request["columns[" + c + "][search][value]"],
                        Regex = Convert.ToBoolean(request["columns[" + c + "][search][regex]"])
                    }
                });
                c++;
            }

            var result = new DTParameterModel
            {
                Draw = draw,
                Start = start,
                Length = length,
                Search = search,
                Order = order,
                Columns = columns
            };

            bindingContext.Result = ModelBindingResult.Success(result);

            return TaskCache.CompletedTask;
        }

    }
}

Parameter Model:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace TrackingAndTraining.Models
{
    [ModelBinder(BinderType = typeof(DTModelBinder))]
    public class DTParameterModel
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Draw counter. This is used by DataTables to ensure that the Ajax returns from 
        /// server-side processing requests are drawn in sequence by DataTables 
        /// </summary>
        public int Draw { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Paging first record indicator. This is the start point in the current data set 
        /// (0 index based - i.e. 0 is the first record)
        /// </summary>
        public int Start { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Number of records that the table can display in the current draw. It is expected
        /// that the number of records returned will be equal to this number, unless the 
        /// server has fewer records to return. Note that this can be -1 to indicate that 
        /// all records should be returned (although that negates any benefits of 
        /// server-side processing!)
        /// </summary>
        public int Length { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Global Search for the table
        /// </summary>
        public DTSearch Search { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Collection of all column indexes and their sort directions
        /// </summary>
        public List<DTOrder> Order { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Collection of all columns in the table
        /// </summary>
        public List<DTColumn> Columns { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Represents search values entered into the table
    /// </summary>
    public sealed class DTSearch
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Global search value. To be applied to all columns which have searchable as true
        /// </summary>
        public string Value { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// true if the global filter should be treated as a regular expression for advanced 
        /// searching, false otherwise. Note that normally server-side processing scripts 
        /// will not perform regular expression searching for performance reasons on large 
        /// data sets, but it is technically possible and at the discretion of your script
        /// </summary>
        public bool Regex { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Represents a column and it's order direction
    /// </summary>
    public sealed class DTOrder
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Column to which ordering should be applied. This is an index reference to the 
        /// columns array of information that is also submitted to the server
        /// </summary>
        public int Column { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Ordering direction for this column. It will be asc or desc to indicate ascending
        /// ordering or descending ordering, respectively
        /// </summary>
        public string Dir { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Represents an individual column in the table
    /// </summary>
    public sealed class DTColumn
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Column's data source
        /// </summary>
        public string Data { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Column's name
        /// </summary>
        public string Name { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Flag to indicate if this column is orderable (true) or not (false)
        /// </summary>
        public bool Orderable { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Flag to indicate if this column is searchable (true) or not (false)
        /// </summary>
        public bool Searchable { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Search to apply to this specific column.
        /// </summary>
        public DTSearch Search { get; set; }
    }
}

Again all credit goes to @Shoe for original post.