Multidimensional Array to MVC Controller

Question

I have the following controller method

    public ActionResult Export(string [,] data, string workbookName)
    {
        ExcelWorkbook workbook = new ExcelWorkbook();
        workbook.AddRows(data);

        return new FileStreamResult(workbook.SaveSheet(), "application/vnd.ms-excel")
        {
            FileDownloadName = workbookName
        };
    }

Which takes a two dimensional array and outputs to a worksheet.

I have failed so far to get anything other than null in the data parameter when posting from jquery with a json array. Does anyone know the correct format of the json needed to populate the data parameter. I am on Jquery 1.7.2.

Here is my jquery

    var arguments = {};

    arguments.data = [["1"], ["2"], ["3"]];
    arguments.workbookName = "test";

    //Populate arrayOfValues 
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: '/Excel/Export',
        datatype: "json",
        traditional: true,
        data: arguments,
        success: function (data) {
            alert(data);
        }
    });

Answer 1

You may be better off using a jagged array instead of a multi-dimensional array. I have had more success getting a jagged array working. Also Explosion Pills is right, the dataType is the type of the response. I was able to get this working using a json request by using JSON.stringify on the data and specifying the contentType of application\json:

Controller:

    public ActionResult Test(string[][] fields, string workbookName)
    {
        var cr = new JsonResult();
        cr.Data = fields;
        return cr;
    }

JS:

var arguments = {};

arguments.fields = new Array(3);
arguments.fields[0] = new Array(3);
arguments.fields[1] = new Array(3);
arguments.fields[2] = new Array(3);

arguments.fields[0][0] = "hello";

arguments.workbookName = "test";

//Populate arrayOfValues 
$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: '/Home/Test',
    dataType: "json",
    contentType: 'application/json',
    traditional: true,
    data: JSON.stringify(arguments),
    success: function (data) {
        alert(data);
    }
});