ASP .NET MVC. Problems with models and forms

Question

I am trying to post a part of my model for a view to action in another controller. I've tried to do it this way:

    <% using (Html.BeginForm("Register", "User", new {createDto = Model.UserCreateDto}, FormMethod.Post))
    {%>
          Form code here...
    <%}%>

UserCreateDto is a part of my model and it's being filled in this form. I'm trying to pass it to "Register" action in UsersController:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Register(UserCreateDto createDto)

The problem is that route value in Register action is null (createDto) after form submit. Maybe it is happening because route values are being attached to url before form submit event (and before model fields are filled).
Is there any way to do what I want?
UPDATE Here is the actual HTML code:

<form action="/User/Register" id="form1" method="post">
        <input id="UserCreateDto_Username" name="UserCreateDto.Username" type="hidden" value="" />

        <input id="UserCreateDto_Password" name="UserCreateDto.Password" type="hidden" value="" />

        <input id="UserCreateDto_Email" name="UserCreateDto.Email" type="hidden" value="" />

        <input id="UserCreateDto_Active" name="UserCreateDto.Active" type="hidden" value="" />

        <span class="field-validation-valid" id="UserCreateDto_Username_validationMessage"></span><br /><label for="UserCreateDto_Username">Имя пользователя</label><br /><input id="UserCreateDto_Username" name="UserCreateDto.Username" type="text" value="" /><br />

        <span class="field-validation-valid" id="UserCreateDto_Password_validationMessage"></span><br /><label for="UserCreateDto_Password">Пароль</label><br /><input id="UserCreateDto_Password" name="UserCreateDto.Password" type="text" value="" /><br />

        <span class="field-validation-valid" id="UserCreateDto_Email_validationMessage"></span><br /><label for="UserCreateDto_Email">E-mail</label><br /><input id="UserCreateDto_Email" name="UserCreateDto.Email" type="text" value="" /><br />

        <input type="submit" value="Register"/>

</form>

And here is the updated form code:

    <% using (Html.BeginForm("Register", "User", FormMethod.Post))
    {%>
        <%: Html.HiddenFor(userCreateDto => Model.UserCreateDto.Username) %>
        <%: Html.HiddenFor(userCreateDto => Model.UserCreateDto.Password) %>
        <%: Html.HiddenFor(userCreateDto => Model.UserCreateDto.Email) %>
        <%: Html.HiddenFor(userCreateDto => Model.UserCreateDto.Active) %>
        <%= Html.LabeledValidatedTextBoxFor(username => Model.UserCreateDto.Username, true) %>
        <%= Html.LabeledValidatedTextBoxFor(password => Model.UserCreateDto.Password, true)%>
        <%= Html.LabeledValidatedTextBoxFor(email => Model.UserCreateDto.Email, true)%>
        <input type="submit" value="Register"/>
    <%}%>

Html.LabeledValidatedTextBoxFor is just my custon HTML helper.
Here is updated action signature:

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Register(UserCreateDto userCreateDto)

userСreateDto in this action is still null. By the way, is there any way not to use hidden fields? They are not secure enough to pass through them user registration information.

tvanfosson · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-02 19:24:03Z

2

Assuming that UserCreateDto is a class, this won't work as it will serialize it to a string in the form action url. What you want to do, probably, is use hidden fields to populate the UserCreateDto fields in the form itself. This will allow the properties of the model to set in the form parameters when the form is posted back, allowing the model binder to do its work and reconstitute the object in the action method parameters.

<% using (Html.BeginForm("Register", "User"))
{%>
      <%: Html.HiddenFor( model => model.UserCreateDto.UserID ) %>
      <%: Html.HiddenFor( model => model.UserCreateDto.Username ) %>
      ...
<%}%>

On the server side it should look like this:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Register(UserCreateDto userCreateDto)

[Edit]

Alternatively, you could just store the UserCreateDto in the user's session and retrieve it on post since you don't trust putting the data in a hidden field.

edited May 2, 2011 at 19:24

answered Apr 30, 2011 at 19:13

tvanfosson

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11 Comments

Kirill Dubovikov Over a year ago

I have tried to do like this: <%= Html.HiddenFor(createDto => Model.UserCreateDto) %> But createDto in my action was null again. Also I have tried to create hiddens for all fields of UserCreateDto class, which is part of my model, but in action it was null again. Thanks for the answer by the way.

tvanfosson Over a year ago

@kernel_mode - I missed that UserCreateDto was a property on the model. For some reason I was assuming that it was the model. I've updated. Not you need a separate field for each property on the (sub)model.

Kirill Dubovikov Over a year ago

As I said before, I've tried to do exactly what you wrote and every property in createDto parameter in Register action was null. Maybe I have missed something?

tvanfosson Over a year ago

@kernel_mode - is the object populated in the view when it's rendered? What does the actual rendered HTML look like?

Kirill Dubovikov Over a year ago

Properties of an object are filled through a from in a view (user registration). Then I need to pass this object to another action. You can see actual HTML in update to my question.

|

Kirill Dubovikov · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-03 09:59:17Z

0

I decided to use partial views so that all user registration logic now is incapsulated in Users controller. Also I've started to use Ajax forms (with the help of JQuery).

answered May 3, 2011 at 9:59

Kirill Dubovikov

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