MVC C# modal popup

Question

ok so i'm trying to figure out how to properly call a modal popup for my page using Controllers as per this post's suggestion

ASP.NET MVC modal dialog/popup best practice

and kinda used this:

http://microsoftmentalist.com/2011/09/14/asp-net-mvc-13-open-window-or-modal-pop-up-and-fill-the-contents-of-it-from-the-controller-method/

I have a view that has a dropdownlist, if the user can't find the item / value that he/she is looking for he can suggest a value (suggest new value link) which is supposed to call the controller and return a popup page with a couple of fields in it.

Here're the objects on the view:

<script type="text/javascript">

        loadpopup = function () 
        {  
window.showModalDialog(‘/NewValue/New′ , "loadPopUp", ‘width=100,height=100′); 
        } 

    </script> 


<%: Html.DropDownList(model => model.ValueId, new selectlist........... %>
<%: Html.ActionLink("Suggest Value", "New", "NewValue", null, new { onclick = 'loadpopup()') %>

The controller that I'm planning to use to return the page:

public class NewValueController : Controller{
   public Actionresult New(){
      return View();
   }
}

Now I'm stuck. I wanted to return a page where I can format it, do i have to return a string ? can't i return an aspx (engin i use) instead, since formatting that would be easier?

Any advice as to which direction i should go is very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You could use the jquery UI Dialog for the popup. Let's have a small setup here.

We would have a view model for the main form:

public class MyViewModel
{
    public string ValueId { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Values 
    { 
        get 
        {
            return new[]
            {
                new SelectListItem { Value = "1", Text = "item 1" },
                new SelectListItem { Value = "2", Text = "item 2" },
                new SelectListItem { Value = "3", Text = "item 3" },
            };
        } 
    }

    public string NewValue { get; set; }
}

a controller:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View(new MyViewModel());
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Index(MyViewModel model)
    {
        return Content("thanks for submitting");
    }
}

and a view (~/Views/Home/Index.aspx):

<%@ Page 
    Language="C#" 
    MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" 
    Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<AppName.Models.MyViewModel>" 
%>

<asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server">

    <% using (Html.BeginForm()) { %>
        <%= Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.ValueId, Model.Values) %>
        <br/>
        <%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.NewValue) %>
        <%= Html.ActionLink("Suggest Value", "New", "NewValue", null, new { id = "new-value-link" }) %>
        <button type="submit">OK</button>
    <% } %>

    <div id="dialog"></div>

</asp:Content>

then we could take care for the popup. We define a view model for it:

public class NewValueViewModel
{
    public string Foo { get; set; }
    public string Bar { get; set; }
}

a controller:

public class NewValueController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult New()
    {
        return PartialView(new NewValueViewModel());
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult New(NewValueViewModel model)
    {
        var newValue = string.Format("{0} - {1}", model.Foo, model.Bar);
        return Json(new { newValue = newValue });
    }
}

and a corresponding partial view (~/Views/NewValue/New.ascx):

<%@ Control 
    Language="C#" 
    Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<AppName.Models.NewValueViewModel>" 
%>

<% using (Html.BeginForm(null, null, FormMethod.Post, new { id = "new-value-form" })) { %>
    <%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Foo) %>
    <%= Html.EditorFor(x => x.Bar) %>
    <button type="submit">OK</button>
<% } %>

Now all that's left is to write a bit of javascript to wire everything up. We include jquery and jquery ui:

<script src="<%: Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-1.5.1.min.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="<%: Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-ui-1.8.11.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script>

and a custom javascript file that will contain our code:

$(function () {
    $('#new-value-link').click(function () {
        var href = this.href;
        $('#dialog').dialog({
            modal: true,
            open: function (event, ui) {
                $(this).load(href, function (result) {
                    $('#new-value-form').submit(function () {
                        $.ajax({
                            url: this.action,
                            type: this.method,
                            data: $(this).serialize(),
                            success: function (json) {
                                $('#dialog').dialog('close');
                                $('#NewValue').val(json.newValue);
                            }
                        });
                        return false;
                    });
                });
            }
        });
        return false;
    });
});