Comments on: Post Complex JavaScript Objects to ASP.NET MVC Controllers

By: James Fleming

James Fleming — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:40:48 +0000

You helped me work though a problem, but I favor a simpler solution than a new plug in –
I add a string “NameField” to my ViewModel and then adjust the name of my Serializable object to that name:
Model.NameField = “Family.Children[" + i.ToString() + "]“;

easy peasy!

By: Dharmendra

Dharmendra — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:23:19 +0000

good job, i was looking for a thing like this.
thanks a lot.

By: Render Your Model With Client Side jQuery Templates Instead of ASP.NET MVC Partial Views - Nick Riggs, Web Developer

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:36:57 +0000

[...] the JavaScript objects into a post that MVC can bind to the controller, we are going to use the postify.js plugin I wrote back in August. That will make handling the saveButton’s click straight [...]

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:24:06 +0000

Wonderfull, You saved me from a LOT of trouble. Thanks a lot!!!!!

By: Ragesh

Ragesh — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:18:19 +0000

Hey Nick, this is really good stuff. I’d like to use it in some of my own projects. Would you please consider attaching a license to this code to make this easier?

By: Dave Ward

Dave Ward — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:18:06 +0000

Nick, you’re absolutely right. I’m so used to POSTing JSON strings to ASMX/WCF services, I misunderstood what you were trying to do. Sorry about that.

Out of curiosity, have you had trouble when supplying the JSON object directly to jQuery in the data parameter? If the data parameter is an object, jQuery will automatically construct and POST the appropriate serialization of the object. So far, I haven’t run into a DTO object that jQuery’s auto-serialization didn’t properly hand off to MVC’s model binder.

By: Nick Riggs

Nick Riggs — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:25:58 +0000

@SanjayU: All this method really buys you is integration with MVC’s default model binding behavior. It’s an custom ActionFilter you don’t have to maintain.

By: Nick Riggs

Nick Riggs — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:24:10 +0000

@Dave: While I like json2.js, this post was meant to address “postifing” a JavaScript object so that it works within ASP.NET MVC’s default model binding. Which is something json2.js doesn’t address.

By: SanjayU

SanjayU — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:53:07 +0000

Definitely a cool alternative approach compared to creating your own ActionFilterAttribute (I wouldn’t even consider the stringify option )

I ask this not be be contrarian, but just a question…what does this method buy you that an ActionFilterAttribute does not? It’d be interesting to understand the performance implications. It seems the code to do this on the client vs. deserializing JSON on the server is rather similar.

By: Dave Ward

Dave Ward — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:45:18 +0000

You should use json2.js for this instead of rolling a custom function. Its JSON.stringify() does the same thing.

The bonus when using json2.js is that browser-native JSON functionality in ECMAScript 3.1 mimics Crockford’s API. So, if your code is using json2.js’ JSON.stringify/parse, it will automatically use the faster native routines when the user’s running Firefox 3.5, IE 8, or the newest builds of Chrome/Safari.