MVC 4 Modal window, partial view and validation

Question

I'm using MVC4 & Entity Framework to develop a web application. I have a table which enumerates all the persons I have in my DB. For each of them, I can edit their info throught a modal window which is a Partial View. However, when I put some wrong information, my application redirects me to my partial view. What I wanted to do is to display the errors into my modal window.

My action :

[HttpGet]
public ActionResult EditPerson(long id)
{
    var person = db.Persons.Single(p => p.Id_Person == id);

    ViewBag.Id_ProductPackageCategory = new SelectList(db.ProductPackageCategories, "Id_ProductPackageCategory", "Name", person.Id_ProductPackageCategory);

    return PartialView("_EditPerson", person);
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult EditPerson(Person person)
{

    ViewBag.Id_ProductPackageCategory = new SelectList(db.ProductPackageCategories, "Id_ProductPackageCategory", "Name", person.Id_ProductPackageCategory);

    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        ModelStateDictionary errorDictionary = Validator.isValid(person);

        if (errorDictionary.Count > 0)
        {
            ModelState.Merge(errorDictionary);
            return PartialView("_EditPerson", person);
        }

        db.Persons.Attach(person);
        db.ObjectStateManager.ChangeObjectState(person, EntityState.Modified);
        db.SaveChanges();
        return View("Index");
    }

    return PartialView("_EditPerson", person);
}

My partial view :

@model BuSIMaterial.Models.Person

<div class="modal-header">
<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>
    <h3 id="myModalLabel">Edit</h3>
</div>
<div>

@using (Ajax.BeginForm("EditPerson", "Person", FormMethod.Post,
                    new AjaxOptions
                    {
                        InsertionMode = InsertionMode.Replace,
                        HttpMethod = "POST",
                        UpdateTargetId = "table"
                    }))
{

    @Html.ValidationSummary()
    @Html.AntiForgeryToken()

    @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Id_Person)

    <div class="modal-body">
       <div class="editor-label">
            First name :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.FirstName, new { maxlength = 50 })
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.FirstName)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            Last name :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.LastName, new { maxlength = 50 })
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.LastName)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            National number :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.EditorFor(model => model.NumNat, new { maxlength = 11 })
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.NumNat)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            Start date :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.StartDate, new { @class = "datepicker", @Value = Model.StartDate.ToString("yyyy/MM/dd") })
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.StartDate)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            End date :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @if (Model.EndDate.HasValue)
            {
                @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.EndDate, new { @class = "datepicker", @Value = Model.EndDate.Value.ToString("yyyy/MM/dd") })
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EndDate)
            }
            else
            {
                @Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.EndDate, new { @class = "datepicker" })
                @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.EndDate)
            }
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            Distance House - Work (km) :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.EditorFor(model => model.HouseToWorkKilometers)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.HouseToWorkKilometers)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            Category :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.DropDownList("Id_ProductPackageCategory", "Choose one ...")
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Id_ProductPackageCategory) <a href="../ProductPackageCategory/Create">
                Add a new category?</a>
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            Upgrade? :
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Upgrade)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Upgrade)
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="modal-footer">
        <button class="btn btn-inverse" id="save" type="submit">Save</button>
    </div>
}

</div>

My script which is in the Index view :

        $('.edit-person').click(function () {
               var id = $(this).data("id");
               var url = '/Person/EditPerson/'+id;
               $.get(url, function(data) {

                   $('#edit-person-container').html(data);
                   $('#edit-person').modal('show');

               });
        });

Also, as you can see, I have put a size for my textboxes but in my modal, it seems to not be taken into account. Any ideas for these issues?

Answer 1

You have to manually fire the validator on your form that was loaded dynamically into your html page.

try this:

in your view use Ajax.ActionLink to load the content of the partial view into your dialog container to avoid unnecessary JavaScript.

@Ajax.ActionLink("AjaxLink", "EditPerson", new { PersonID = model.Id_Person }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myModalDialog", HttpMethod = "Post",OnSuccess="OpenDialog(myModalDialog)" })

<div id="myModalDialog" title="" style="display: none">
</div>

in you JS file do this

function OpenDialog(DialogContainerID)
{
     var $DialogContainer = $('#' + DialogContainerID);
     var $jQval = $.validator; //This is the validator
     $jQval.unobtrusive.parse($DialogContainer); // and here is where you set it up.
     $DialogContainer.modal();

     var $form = $DialogContainer.find("form");
     $.validator.unobtrusive.parse($form);

     $form.on("submit", function (event)
     {
             var $form = $(this);

             //Function is defined later...
             submitAsyncForm($form,
             function (data)
             {
                     $DialogContainer.modal("hide");
                     window.location.href = window.location.href;

             },
             function (xhr, ajaxOptions, thrownError)
             {
                     console.log(xhr.responseText);
                     $("body").html(xhr.responseText);
             });
             event.preventDefault();
     });
}

//This is the function that will submit the form using ajax and check for validation errors before that.
function submitAsyncForm($formToSubmit, fnSuccess, fnError)
{
        if (!$formToSubmit.valid())
                return false;

        $.ajax({
                type: $formToSubmit.attr('method'),
                url: $formToSubmit.attr('action'),
                data: $formToSubmit.serialize(),

                success: fnSuccess,
                error: fnError

        });

}