Post knockout observable array as object property asp.net mvc

Question

I'm trying to post an ko.observable array as part of of an object, all that data reaches the server ok except for the array which is not null but has a count of zero.

This is on the client side

    function submitAsync() {
    var viewModel = constructModel();

    setTimeout(function () {
        $.ajax({
            url: '/Article/Index',
            type: 'POST',
            data: JSON.stringify({ viewModel: viewModel }),
            contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
        })
    },2000);
    console.log(viewModel);
}

function constructModel(){
    var articleViewModel = {};
    articleViewModel.Authors = ko.toJSON(appViewModel.authors);

    articleViewModel.ArticleData = {};
    articleViewModel.ArticleData.Title = $("#ArticleData_Title").text();
    articleViewModel.ArticleData.CorespondingAuthor = $("#ArticleData_CorespondingAuthor").text();
    articleViewModel.ArticleData.Keywords = $("#ArticleData_Keywords").text();

    articleViewModel.ArticleContent = {};
    articleViewModel.ArticleContent.Abstract = $("#ArticleContent_Abstract").text();
    articleViewModel.ArticleContent.FullText = ArticleContent();

    return articleViewModel;
}

My viewModel

public class ArticleViewModel
{
    public ArticleData ArticleData { get; set; }
    public ArticleContent ArticleContent { get; set; }
    public ICollection<Author> Authors { get; set; }
}

My controller action viewModel.Authors is not null but has a count of 0

[HttpPost]
        public ActionResult Index(ArticleViewModel viewModel)
        {
            if (ModelState.IsValid)
            {
                mergeViewModelToCurrentArticle(viewModel);
                _documentPath = GenerateDocument(_currentArticle);
                return RedirectToAction("Success");
            }
            return View();
        }

The ko array outputed from javascript

Authors: "[{"id":1,"firstName":"User first name","lastName":"user last name","email":"[email protected]","phone":"xxxxx","address":"Dunarii Nr.3","fullName":"user full name"}]"

How is one Author looks like in C#? You can also try with data: JSON.stringify(viewModel), — nemesv
– nemesv, Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 17:11
The casing of the property names should match. In JS you have firstName but in C# FirstName... — nemesv
– nemesv, Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 17:17
without JSON.stringify i get Invalid JSON primitive: Authors. — Bobby Tables
– Bobby Tables, Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 17:18
i've updated it now the data i post looks like Authors: "[{"Id":1,"FirstName":"First Name","LastName":"LastName","Email":"[email protected]","Phone":"0751000000","Address":"Dunarii Nr.3","fullName":"First Name LastName"}]" — Bobby Tables
– Bobby Tables, Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 17:33

Darin Dimitrov · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-17 17:38:49Z

1

Simply replace

articleViewModel.Authors = ko.toJSON(appViewModel.authors);

with:

articleViewModel.Authors = appViewModel.authors;

You are double JSON encoding the Authors array which is not necessary.

answered Mar 17, 2013 at 17:38

Darin Dimitrov

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9 Comments

Bobby Tables Over a year ago

Thought about that, and tried it already but if i do that Authors now becomes null, instead of having a count of 0

Darin Dimitrov Over a year ago

Try removing the implicit operator from your Author model.

Bobby Tables Over a year ago

That didn't work either and is used to work when i posted just the authors, even with the implicit operator

Darin Dimitrov Over a year ago

That's weird. Could you please show the exact JSON that gets sent to the server during the AJAX request? I suspect that there might be some discrepancy between your model and the JSON string.

Bobby Tables Over a year ago

Don't really think so because as i said it worked when i was just posting the authors, but i'm really new at this. Here's the JSON

|

Bobby Tables · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-21 02:02:52Z

1

Thanks to Darin i managed to figure it out apparently the solution was to replace

articleViewModel.Authors = ko.toJSON(appViewModel.authors);

with

articleViewModel.Authors = $.parseJSON(ko.toJSON(appViewModel.authors))

answered Mar 21, 2013 at 2:02

Bobby Tables

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