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Developing web apps using ASP.NET MVC 3, Razor and EF Code First - Part 2

- by shiju

In my previous post Developing web apps using ASP.NET MVC 3, Razor and EF Code First - Part 1, we have discussed on how to work with ASP.NET MVC 3 and EF Code First for developing web apps. We have created generic repository and unit of work with EF Code First for our ASP.NET MVC 3 application and did basic CRUD operations against a simple domain entity. In this post, I will demonstrate on working with domain entity with deep object graph, Service Layer and View Models and will also complete the rest of the demo application. In the previous post, we have done CRUD operations against Category entity and this post will be focus on Expense entity those have an association with Category entity. You can download the source code from http://efmvc.codeplex.com . The following frameworks will be used for this step by step tutorial. 1. ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM 2. EF Code First CTP 5 3. Unity 2.0 Domain Model Category Entity public class Category { public int CategoryId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Name Required")] [StringLength(25, ErrorMessage = "Must be less than 25 characters")] public string Name { get; set;} public string Description { get; set; } public virtual ICollection<Expense> Expenses { get; set; } } Expense Entity public class Expense { public int ExpenseId { get; set; } public string Transaction { get; set; } public DateTime Date { get; set; } public double Amount { get; set; } public int CategoryId { get; set; } public virtual Category Category { get; set; } } We have two domain entities - Category and Expense. A single category contains a list of expense transactions and every expense transaction should have a Category. Repository class for Expense Transaction Let’s create repository class for handling CRUD operations for Expense entity public class ExpenseRepository : RepositoryBase<Expense>, IExpenseRepository { public ExpenseRepository(IDatabaseFactory databaseFactory) : base(databaseFactory) { } } public interface IExpenseRepository : IRepository<Expense> { } Service Layer If you are new to Service Layer, checkout Martin Fowler's article Service Layer . According to Martin Fowler, Service Layer defines an application's boundary and its set of available operations from the perspective of interfacing client layers. It encapsulates the application's business logic, controlling transactions and coordinating responses in the implementation of its operations. Controller classes should be lightweight and do not put much of business logic onto it. We can use the service layer as the business logic layer and can encapsulate the rules of the application. Let’s create a Service class for coordinates the transaction for Expense public interface IExpenseService { IEnumerable<Expense> GetExpenses(DateTime startDate, DateTime ednDate); Expense GetExpense(int id); void CreateExpense(Expense expense); void DeleteExpense(int id); void SaveExpense(); } public class ExpenseService : IExpenseService { private readonly IExpenseRepository expenseRepository; private readonly IUnitOfWork unitOfWork; public ExpenseService(IExpenseRepository expenseRepository, IUnitOfWork unitOfWork) { this.expenseRepository = expenseRepository; this.unitOfWork = unitOfWork; } public IEnumerable<Expense> GetExpenses(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate) { var expenses = expenseRepository.GetMany(exp => exp.Date >= startDate && exp.Date <= endDate); return expenses; } public void CreateExpense(Expense expense) { expenseRepository.Add(expense); unitOfWork.Commit(); } public Expense GetExpense(int id) { var expense = expenseRepository.GetById(id); return expense; } public void DeleteExpense(int id) { var expense = expenseRepository.GetById(id); expenseRepository.Delete(expense); unitOfWork.Commit(); } public void SaveExpense() { unitOfWork.Commit(); } } View Model for Expense Transactions In real world ASP.NET MVC applications, we need to design model objects especially for our views. Our domain objects are mainly designed for the needs for domain model and it is representing the domain of our applications. On the other hand, View Model objects are designed for our needs for views. We have an Expense domain entity that has an association with Category. While we are creating a new Expense, we have to specify that in which Category belongs with the new Expense transaction. The user interface for Expense transaction will have form fields for representing the Expense entity and a CategoryId for representing the Category. So let's create view model for representing the need for Expense transactions. public class ExpenseViewModel { public int ExpenseId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Category Required")] public int CategoryId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Transaction Required")] public string Transaction { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Date Required")] public DateTime Date { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Amount Required")] public double Amount { get; set; } public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Category { get; set; } } The ExpenseViewModel is designed for the purpose of View template and contains the all validation rules. It has properties for mapping values to Expense entity and a property Category for binding values to a drop-down for list values of Category. Create Expense transaction Let’s create action methods in the ExpenseController for creating expense transactions public ActionResult Create() { var expenseModel = new ExpenseViewModel(); var categories = categoryService.GetCategories(); expenseModel.Category = categories.ToSelectListItems(-1); expenseModel.Date = DateTime.Today; return View(expenseModel); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(ExpenseViewModel expenseViewModel) { if (!ModelState.IsValid) { var categories = categoryService.GetCategories(); expenseViewModel.Category = categories.ToSelectListItems(expenseViewModel.CategoryId); return View("Save", expenseViewModel); } Expense expense=new Expense(); ModelCopier.CopyModel(expenseViewModel,expense); expenseService.CreateExpense(expense); return RedirectToAction("Index"); } In the Create action method for HttpGet request, we have created an instance of our View Model ExpenseViewModel with Category information for the drop-down list and passing the Model object to View template. The extension method ToSelectListItems is shown below public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectListItems( this IEnumerable<Category> categories, int selectedId) { return categories.OrderBy(category => category.Name) .Select(category => new SelectListItem { Selected = (category.CategoryId == selectedId), Text = category.Name, Value = category.CategoryId.ToString() }); } In the Create action method for HttpPost, our view model object ExpenseViewModel will map with posted form input values. We need to create an instance of Expense for the persistence purpose. So we need to copy values from ExpenseViewModel object to Expense object. ASP.NET MVC futures assembly provides a static class ModelCopier that can use for copying values between Model objects. ModelCopier class has two static methods - CopyCollection and CopyModel.CopyCollection method will copy values between two collection objects and CopyModel will copy values between two model objects. We have used CopyModel method of ModelCopier class for copying values from expenseViewModel object to expense object. Finally we did a call to CreateExpense method of ExpenseService class for persisting new expense transaction. List Expense Transactions We want to list expense transactions based on a date range. So let’s create action method for filtering expense transactions with a specified date range. public ActionResult Index(DateTime? startDate, DateTime? endDate) { //If date is not passed, take current month's first and last dte DateTime dtNow; dtNow = DateTime.Today; if (!startDate.HasValue) { startDate = new DateTime(dtNow.Year, dtNow.Month, 1); endDate = startDate.Value.AddMonths(1).AddDays(-1); } //take last date of start date's month, if end date is not passed if (startDate.HasValue && !endDate.HasValue) { endDate = (new DateTime(startDate.Value.Year, startDate.Value.Month, 1)).AddMonths(1).AddDays(-1); } var expenses = expenseService.GetExpenses(startDate.Value ,endDate.Value); //if request is Ajax will return partial view if (Request.IsAjaxRequest()) { return PartialView("ExpenseList", expenses); } //set start date and end date to ViewBag dictionary ViewBag.StartDate = startDate.Value.ToShortDateString(); ViewBag.EndDate = endDate.Value.ToShortDateString(); //if request is not ajax return View(expenses); } We are using the above Index Action method for both Ajax requests and normal requests. If there is a request for Ajax, we will call the PartialView ExpenseList. Razor Views for listing Expense information Let’s create view templates in Razor for showing list of Expense information ExpenseList.cshtml @model IEnumerable<MyFinance.Domain.Expense> <table> <tr> <th>Actions</th> <th>Category</th> <th> Transaction </th> <th> Date </th> <th> Amount </th> </tr> @foreach (var item in Model) { <tr> <td> @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit",new { id = item.ExpenseId }) @Ajax.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new { id = item.ExpenseId }, new AjaxOptions { Confirm = "Delete Expense?", HttpMethod = "Post", UpdateTargetId = "divExpenseList" }) </td> <td> @item.Category.Name </td> <td> @item.Transaction </td> <td> @String.Format("{0:d}", item.Date) </td> <td> @String.Format("{0:F}", item.Amount) </td> </tr> } </table> <p> @Html.ActionLink("Create New Expense", "Create") | @Html.ActionLink("Create New Category", "Create","Category") </p> Index.cshtml @using MyFinance.Helpers; @model IEnumerable<MyFinance.Domain.Expense> @{ ViewBag.Title = "Index"; } <h2>Expense List</h2> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-ui.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.ui.datepicker.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <link href="@Url.Content("~/Content/jquery-ui-1.8.6.custom.css")" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> @using (Ajax.BeginForm(new AjaxOptions{ UpdateTargetId="divExpenseList", HttpMethod="Get"})) { <table> <tr> <td> <div> Start Date: @Html.TextBox("StartDate", Html.Encode(String.Format("{0:mm/dd/yyyy}", ViewData["StartDate"].ToString())), new { @class = "ui-datepicker" }) </div> </td> <td><div> End Date: @Html.TextBox("EndDate", Html.Encode(String.Format("{0:mm/dd/yyyy}", ViewData["EndDate"].ToString())), new { @class = "ui-datepicker" }) </div></td> <td> <input type="submit" value="Search By TransactionDate" /></td> </tr> </table> } <div id="divExpenseList"> @Html.Partial("ExpenseList", Model) </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $().ready(function () { $('.ui-datepicker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'mm/dd/yy', buttonImage: '@Url.Content("~/Content/calendar.gif")', buttonImageOnly: true, showOn: "button" }); }); </script> Ajax search functionality using Ajax.BeginForm The search functionality of Index view is providing Ajax functionality using Ajax.BeginForm. The Ajax.BeginForm() method writes an opening <form> tag to the response. You can use this method in a using block. In that case, the method renders the closing </form> tag at the end of the using block and the form is submitted asynchronously by using JavaScript. The search functionality will call the Index Action method and this will return partial view ExpenseList for updating the search result. We want to update the response UI for the Ajax request onto divExpenseList element. So we have specified the UpdateTargetId as "divExpenseList" in the Ajax.BeginForm method. Add jQuery DatePicker Our search functionality is using a date range so we are providing two date pickers using jQuery datepicker. You need to add reference to the following JavaScript files to working with jQuery datepicker. jquery-ui.js jquery.ui.datepicker.js For theme support for datepicker, we can use a customized CSS class. In our example we have used a CSS file “jquery-ui-1.8.6.custom.css”. For more details about the datepicker component, visit jquery UI website at http://jqueryui.com/demos/datepicker . In the jQuery ready event, we have used following JavaScript function to initialize the UI element to show date picker. <script type="text/javascript"> $().ready(function () { $('.ui-datepicker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'mm/dd/yy', buttonImage: '@Url.Content("~/Content/calendar.gif")', buttonImageOnly: true, showOn: "button" }); }); </script> Source Code You can download the source code from http://efmvc.codeplex.com/ . Summary In this two-part series, we have created a simple web application using ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM, Razor and EF Code First CTP 5. I have demonstrated patterns and practices such as Dependency Injection, Repository pattern, Unit of Work, ViewModel and Service Layer. My primary objective was to demonstrate different practices and options for developing web apps using ASP.NET MVC 3 and EF Code First. You can implement these approaches in your own way for building web apps using ASP.NET MVC 3. I will refactor this demo app on later time.

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NoSQL with MongoDB, NoRM and ASP.NET MVC - Part 2

- by shiju

In my last post, I have given an introduction to MongoDB and NoRM using an ASP.NET MVC demo app. I have updated the demo ASP.NET MVC app and a created a new drop at codeplex. You can download the demo at http://mongomvc.codeplex.com/In my last post, we have discussed to doing basic CRUD operations against a simple domain entity. In this post, let’s discuss on domain entity with deep object graph.The below is our domain entities public class Category { [MongoIdentifier] public ObjectId Id { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Name Required")] [StringLength(25, ErrorMessage = "Must be less than 25 characters")] public string Name { get; set;} public string Description { get; set; } public List<Expense> Expenses { get; set; } public Category() { Expenses = new List<Expense>(); } } public class Expense { [MongoIdentifier] public ObjectId Id { get; set; } public Category Category { get; set; } public string Transaction { get; set; } public DateTime Date { get; set; } public double Amount { get; set; } } We have two domain entities - Category and Expense. A single category contains a list of expense transactions and every expense transaction should have a Category.The MongoSession class internal class MongoSession : IDisposable { private readonly MongoQueryProvider provider; public MongoSession() { this.provider = new MongoQueryProvider("Expense"); } public IQueryable<Category> Categories { get { return new MongoQuery<Category>(this.provider); } } public IQueryable<Expense> Expenses { get { return new MongoQuery<Expense>(this.provider); } } public MongoQueryProvider Provider { get { return this.provider; } } public void Add<T>(T item) where T : class, new() { this.provider.DB.GetCollection<T>().Insert(item); } public void Dispose() { this.provider.Server.Dispose(); } public void Delete<T>(T item) where T : class, new() { this.provider.DB.GetCollection<T>().Delete(item); } public void Drop<T>() { this.provider.DB.DropCollection(typeof(T).Name); } public void Save<T>(T item) where T : class,new() { this.provider.DB.GetCollection<T>().Save(item); } } ASP.NET MVC view model for Expense transaction public class ExpenseViewModel { public ObjectId Id { get; set; } public ObjectId CategoryId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Transaction Required")] public string Transaction { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Date Required")] public DateTime Date { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Amount Required")] public double Amount { get; set; } public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Category { get; set; } } Let's create action method for Insert and Update a expense transaction [HttpPost] public ActionResult Save(ExpenseViewModel expenseViewModel) { try { if (!ModelState.IsValid) { using (var session = new MongoSession()) { var categories = session.Categories.AsEnumerable<Category>(); expenseViewModel.Category = categories.ToSelectListItems(expenseViewModel.CategoryId); } return View("Save", expenseViewModel); } var expense=new Expense(); ModelCopier.CopyModel(expenseViewModel, expense); using (var session = new MongoSession()) { ObjectId Id = expenseViewModel.CategoryId; var category = session.Categories .Where(c => c.Id ==Id ) .FirstOrDefault(); expense.Category = category; session.Save(expense); } return RedirectToAction("Index"); } catch { return View(); } } Query with Expenses using (var session = new MongoSession()) { var expenses = session.Expenses. Where(exp => exp.Date >= StartDate && exp.Date <= EndDate) .AsEnumerable<Expense>(); } We are doing a LINQ query expression with a Date filter. We can easily work with MongoDB using NoRM driver and can managing object graph of domain entities are pretty cool. Download the Source - You can download the source code form http://mongomvc.codeplex.com

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ASP.NET MVC 3 Hosting :: How to Deploy Web Apps Using ASP.NET MVC 3, Razor and EF Code First - Part II

- by mbridge

In previous post, I have discussed on how to work with ASP.NET MVC 3 and EF Code First for developing web apps. In this post, I will demonstrate on working with domain entity with deep object graph, Service Layer and View Models and will also complete the rest of the demo application. In the previous post, we have done CRUD operations against Category entity and this post will be focus on Expense entity those have an association with Category entity. Domain Model Category Entity public class Category { public int CategoryId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Name Required")] [StringLength(25, ErrorMessage = "Must be less than 25 characters")] public string Name { get; set;} public string Description { get; set; } public virtual ICollection<Expense> Expenses { get; set; } } Expense Entity public class Expense { public int ExpenseId { get; set; } public string Transaction { get; set; } public DateTime Date { get; set; } public double Amount { get; set; } public int CategoryId { get; set; } public virtual Category Category { get; set; } } We have two domain entities - Category and Expense. A single category contains a list of expense transactions and every expense transaction should have a Category. Repository class for Expense Transaction Let’s create repository class for handling CRUD operations for Expense entity public class ExpenseRepository : RepositoryBase<Expense>, IExpenseRepository { public ExpenseRepository(IDatabaseFactory databaseFactory) : base(databaseFactory) { } } public interface IExpenseRepository : IRepository<Expense> { } Service Layer If you are new to Service Layer, checkout Martin Fowler's article Service Layer . According to Martin Fowler, Service Layer defines an application's boundary and its set of available operations from the perspective of interfacing client layers. It encapsulates the application's business logic, controlling transactions and coordinating responses in the implementation of its operations. Controller classes should be lightweight and do not put much of business logic onto it. We can use the service layer as the business logic layer and can encapsulate the rules of the application. Let’s create a Service class for coordinates the transaction for Expense public interface IExpenseService { IEnumerable<Expense> GetExpenses(DateTime startDate, DateTime ednDate); Expense GetExpense(int id); void CreateExpense(Expense expense); void DeleteExpense(int id); void SaveExpense(); } public class ExpenseService : IExpenseService { private readonly IExpenseRepository expenseRepository; private readonly IUnitOfWork unitOfWork; public ExpenseService(IExpenseRepository expenseRepository, IUnitOfWork unitOfWork) { this.expenseRepository = expenseRepository; this.unitOfWork = unitOfWork; } public IEnumerable<Expense> GetExpenses(DateTime startDate, DateTime endDate) { var expenses = expenseRepository.GetMany(exp => exp.Date >= startDate && exp.Date <= endDate); return expenses; } public void CreateExpense(Expense expense) { expenseRepository.Add(expense); unitOfWork.Commit(); } public Expense GetExpense(int id) { var expense = expenseRepository.GetById(id); return expense; } public void DeleteExpense(int id) { var expense = expenseRepository.GetById(id); expenseRepository.Delete(expense); unitOfWork.Commit(); } public void SaveExpense() { unitOfWork.Commit(); } } View Model for Expense Transactions In real world ASP.NET MVC applications, we need to design model objects especially for our views. Our domain objects are mainly designed for the needs for domain model and it is representing the domain of our applications. On the other hand, View Model objects are designed for our needs for views. We have an Expense domain entity that has an association with Category. While we are creating a new Expense, we have to specify that in which Category belongs with the new Expense transaction. The user interface for Expense transaction will have form fields for representing the Expense entity and a CategoryId for representing the Category. So let's create view model for representing the need for Expense transactions. public class ExpenseViewModel { public int ExpenseId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Category Required")] public int CategoryId { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Transaction Required")] public string Transaction { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Date Required")] public DateTime Date { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage = "Amount Required")] public double Amount { get; set; } public IEnumerable<SelectListItem> Category { get; set; } } The ExpenseViewModel is designed for the purpose of View template and contains the all validation rules. It has properties for mapping values to Expense entity and a property Category for binding values to a drop-down for list values of Category. Create Expense transaction Let’s create action methods in the ExpenseController for creating expense transactions public ActionResult Create() { var expenseModel = new ExpenseViewModel(); var categories = categoryService.GetCategories(); expenseModel.Category = categories.ToSelectListItems(-1); expenseModel.Date = DateTime.Today; return View(expenseModel); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(ExpenseViewModel expenseViewModel) { if (!ModelState.IsValid) { var categories = categoryService.GetCategories(); expenseViewModel.Category = categories.ToSelectListItems(expenseViewModel.CategoryId); return View("Save", expenseViewModel); } Expense expense=new Expense(); ModelCopier.CopyModel(expenseViewModel,expense); expenseService.CreateExpense(expense); return RedirectToAction("Index"); } In the Create action method for HttpGet request, we have created an instance of our View Model ExpenseViewModel with Category information for the drop-down list and passing the Model object to View template. The extension method ToSelectListItems is shown below public static IEnumerable<SelectListItem> ToSelectListItems( this IEnumerable<Category> categories, int selectedId) { return categories.OrderBy(category => category.Name) .Select(category => new SelectListItem { Selected = (category.CategoryId == selectedId), Text = category.Name, Value = category.CategoryId.ToString() }); } In the Create action method for HttpPost, our view model object ExpenseViewModel will map with posted form input values. We need to create an instance of Expense for the persistence purpose. So we need to copy values from ExpenseViewModel object to Expense object. ASP.NET MVC futures assembly provides a static class ModelCopier that can use for copying values between Model objects. ModelCopier class has two static methods - CopyCollection and CopyModel.CopyCollection method will copy values between two collection objects and CopyModel will copy values between two model objects. We have used CopyModel method of ModelCopier class for copying values from expenseViewModel object to expense object. Finally we did a call to CreateExpense method of ExpenseService class for persisting new expense transaction. List Expense Transactions We want to list expense transactions based on a date range. So let’s create action method for filtering expense transactions with a specified date range. public ActionResult Index(DateTime? startDate, DateTime? endDate) { //If date is not passed, take current month's first and last dte DateTime dtNow; dtNow = DateTime.Today; if (!startDate.HasValue) { startDate = new DateTime(dtNow.Year, dtNow.Month, 1); endDate = startDate.Value.AddMonths(1).AddDays(-1); } //take last date of start date's month, if end date is not passed if (startDate.HasValue && !endDate.HasValue) { endDate = (new DateTime(startDate.Value.Year, startDate.Value.Month, 1)).AddMonths(1).AddDays(-1); } var expenses = expenseService.GetExpenses(startDate.Value ,endDate.Value); //if request is Ajax will return partial view if (Request.IsAjaxRequest()) { return PartialView("ExpenseList", expenses); } //set start date and end date to ViewBag dictionary ViewBag.StartDate = startDate.Value.ToShortDateString(); ViewBag.EndDate = endDate.Value.ToShortDateString(); //if request is not ajax return View(expenses); } We are using the above Index Action method for both Ajax requests and normal requests. If there is a request for Ajax, we will call the PartialView ExpenseList. Razor Views for listing Expense information Let’s create view templates in Razor for showing list of Expense information ExpenseList.cshtml @model IEnumerable<MyFinance.Domain.Expense> <table> <tr> <th>Actions</th> <th>Category</th> <th> Transaction </th> <th> Date </th> <th> Amount </th> </tr> @foreach (var item in Model) { <tr> <td> @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit",new { id = item.ExpenseId }) @Ajax.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new { id = item.ExpenseId }, new AjaxOptions { Confirm = "Delete Expense?", HttpMethod = "Post", UpdateTargetId = "divExpenseList" }) </td> <td> @item.Category.Name </td> <td> @item.Transaction </td> <td> @String.Format("{0:d}", item.Date) </td> <td> @String.Format("{0:F}", item.Amount) </td> </tr> } </table> <p> @Html.ActionLink("Create New Expense", "Create") | @Html.ActionLink("Create New Category", "Create","Category") </p> Index.cshtml @using MyFinance.Helpers; @model IEnumerable<MyFinance.Domain.Expense> @{ ViewBag.Title = "Index"; } <h2>Expense List</h2> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-ui.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.ui.datepicker.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <link href="@Url.Content("~/Content/jquery-ui-1.8.6.custom.css")" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> @using (Ajax.BeginForm(new AjaxOptions{ UpdateTargetId="divExpenseList", HttpMethod="Get"})) { <table> <tr> <td> <div> Start Date: @Html.TextBox("StartDate", Html.Encode(String.Format("{0:mm/dd/yyyy}", ViewData["StartDate"].ToString())), new { @class = "ui-datepicker" }) </div> </td> <td><div> End Date: @Html.TextBox("EndDate", Html.Encode(String.Format("{0:mm/dd/yyyy}", ViewData["EndDate"].ToString())), new { @class = "ui-datepicker" }) </div></td> <td> <input type="submit" value="Search By TransactionDate" /></td> </tr> </table> } <div id="divExpenseList"> @Html.Partial("ExpenseList", Model) </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $().ready(function () { $('.ui-datepicker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'mm/dd/yy', buttonImage: '@Url.Content("~/Content/calendar.gif")', buttonImageOnly: true, showOn: "button" }); }); </script> Ajax search functionality using Ajax.BeginForm The search functionality of Index view is providing Ajax functionality using Ajax.BeginForm. The Ajax.BeginForm() method writes an opening <form> tag to the response. You can use this method in a using block. In that case, the method renders the closing </form> tag at the end of the using block and the form is submitted asynchronously by using JavaScript. The search functionality will call the Index Action method and this will return partial view ExpenseList for updating the search result. We want to update the response UI for the Ajax request onto divExpenseList element. So we have specified the UpdateTargetId as "divExpenseList" in the Ajax.BeginForm method. Add jQuery DatePicker Our search functionality is using a date range so we are providing two date pickers using jQuery datepicker. You need to add reference to the following JavaScript files to working with jQuery datepicker. - jquery-ui.js - jquery.ui.datepicker.js For theme support for datepicker, we can use a customized CSS class. In our example we have used a CSS file “jquery-ui-1.8.6.custom.css”. For more details about the datepicker component, visit jquery UI website at http://jqueryui.com/demos/datepicker . In the jQuery ready event, we have used following JavaScript function to initialize the UI element to show date picker. <script type="text/javascript"> $().ready(function () { $('.ui-datepicker').datepicker({ dateFormat: 'mm/dd/yy', buttonImage: '@Url.Content("~/Content/calendar.gif")', buttonImageOnly: true, showOn: "button" }); }); </script> Summary In this two-part series, we have created a simple web application using ASP.NET MVC 3 RTM, Razor and EF Code First CTP 5. I have demonstrated patterns and practices such as Dependency Injection, Repository pattern, Unit of Work, ViewModel and Service Layer. My primary objective was to demonstrate different practices and options for developing web apps using ASP.NET MVC 3 and EF Code First. You can implement these approaches in your own way for building web apps using ASP.NET MVC 3. I will refactor this demo app on later time.

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ASP.NET MVC 2 UpdateModel() is not updating values in memory or database

- by campbelt

Hello, I am new to MVC, and so am working through the NerdDinner tutorial, here. In particular, I'm running into problems with the use of the UpdateModel method, which is explained in the part five of that tutorial. The problem is, when I try to edit the value of a dinner object using the UpdateModel method, the values do not get updated, and no exceptions are thrown. Oddly, I am not having any trouble with the Create or Delete features that are illustrated in the tutorial. Only the update feature isn't working. Below, I have included the Controller code that I am using, as well as the view markup, which is contained in both an aspx View file and an ascx Partial View file. Here is the code inside my Controller, called DinnerController.cs: // // GET: /Dinners/Edit/2 [Authorize] public ActionResult Edit(int id) { Dinner dinner = dinnerRepository.GetDinner(id); return View(new DinnerFormViewModel(dinner)); } // // POST: /Dinners/Edit/2 [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post), Authorize] public ActionResult Edit(int id, FormCollection formValues) { Dinner dinner = dinnerRepository.GetDinner(id); try { UpdateModel(dinner); var x = ViewData.GetModelStateErrors(); // <-- to catch other ModelState errors dinnerRepository.Save(); return RedirectToAction("Details", new { id = dinner.DinnerID }); } catch { ModelState.AddRuleViolations(dinner.GetRuleViolations()); return View(new DinnerFormViewModel(dinner)); } } The line with the comment "to catch other ModelState errors" was added after reading a possible solution from another StackOverflow thread, here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1461283/asp-net-mvc-updatemodel-not-updating-but-not-throwing-error Unfortunately, that solution didn't help me. Here is the corresponding markup in my Dinners/Edit.aspx View: <asp:Content ID="Main" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <h2>Edit Dinner</h2> <% Html.RenderPartial("DinnerForm"); %> </asp:Content> Here is the corresponding markup in my DinnerForm.ascx Partial View. This Partial View file is also used by the Create feature, which is working fine: <%=Html.ValidationSummary("Please correct the errors and try again.") %> <% using (Html.BeginForm()) { %> <fieldset> <p> <label for="Title">Dinner Title:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.Title)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("Title", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="EventDate">EventDate:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.EventDate, new { value = String.Format("{0:g}", Model.Dinner.EventDate) })%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("EventDate", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Description">Description:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.Description)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("Description", "*")%> </p> <p> <label for="Address">Address:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.Address)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("Address", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Country">Country:</label> <%=Html.DropDownListFor(model => Model.Dinner.Country, Model.Countries)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("Country", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="ContactPhone">ContactPhone #:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.ContactPhone)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("ContactPhone", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Latitude">Latitude:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.Latitude)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("Latitude", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Longitude">Longitude:</label> <%=Html.TextBoxFor(model => Model.Dinner.Longitude)%> <%=Html.ValidationMessage("Longitude", "*") %> </p> <p> <input type="submit" value="Save"/> </p> </fieldset> <% } %> In any case, I've been hitting away at this for hours, and I'm out of ideas. So, I'm hoping someone here can help nudge me in the right direction, in order to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

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Correct way to edit and update complex viewmodel objects using asp.net-mvc2 and entity framework

- by jslatts

I have a table in my database with a one to many relationship to another table: ParentObject ID Name Description ChildObject ID Name Description ParentObjectID AnotherObjectID The objects are mapped into Entity Framework and exposed through a data access class. It seemed like ViewModels are recommended when the data to be displayed greatly differs from the domain object, so I created a ViewModel as follows: public class ViewModel { public IList<ParentObject> ParentObjects { get; set; } public ParentObject selectedObject { get; set; } public IList<ChildObject> ChildObjects { get; set; } } I have a view that displays a list of ParentObjects and when clicked will allow a ChildObject to be modified saved. <% using (Html.BeginForm()) { %> <table> <% foreach (var parent in Model.ParentObjects) { %> <tr> <td> ObjectID [<%= Html.Encode(parent.ID)%>] </td> <td> <%= Html.Encode(parent.Name)%> </td> <td> <%= Html.Encode(parent.Description)%> </td> </tr> <% } %> </table> <% if (Model.ParentObject != null) { %> <div> Name:<br /> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.ParentObject.Name) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ParentObject.Name, "*")%> </div> <div> Description:<br /> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.ParentObject.Description) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ParentObject.Description, "*")%> </div> <div> Child Objects </div> <% for (int i = 0; i < Model.ParentObject.ChildObjects.Count(); i++) { %> <div> <%= Html.DisplayTextFor(sd => sd.ChildObjects[i].Name) %> </div> <div> <%= Html.HiddenFor(sd => sd.ChildObjects[i].ID )%> <%= Html.TextBoxFor( sd => sd.ChildObjects[i].Description) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(sd => sd.ChildObjects[i].Description, "*") %> </div> <% } } } %> This all works fine. My question is around the best way to update the EF objects and persist the changes back to the database. I initially tried: [HttpPost] public ActionResult Edit(ViewModel viewModel) { ParentObject parent = myRepository.GetParentObjectByID(viewModel.SelectedObject.ID); if ((!ModelState.IsValid) || !TryUpdateModel(parent, "SelectedObject", new[] { "Name", "Description" })) { || !TryUpdateModel(parent.ChildObjects, "ChildObjects", new[] { "Name", "Description" })) { //Code to handle failure and return the current model snipped return View(viewModel); } myRepository.Save(); return RedirectToAction("Edit"); } When I try to save a change to the child object, I get this exception: Entities in 'MyEntities.ChildObject' participate in the 'FK_ChildObject_AnotherObject' relationship. 0 related 'AnotherObject' were found. 1 'AnotherObject' is expected. Investigation on StackOverflow and generally googling led me to this blog post that seems to describe my problem: TryUpdateModel() does not correctly handle nested collections. Apparently, (and stepping through the debugger confirms this) it creates a new ChildObject instead of associating with the EF objects from my instantiated context. My hacky work around is this: if (viewModel.ChildObjects.Count > 0) { foreach (ChildObject modelChildObject in viewModel.ChildObjects) { ChildObject childToUpdate = ParentObject.ChildObject.Where(a => a.ID == modelChildObject.ID).First(); childToUpdate.Name = modelChildObject.Name; } } This seems to work fine. My question to you good folks: Is there correct way to do this? I tried following the suggestion for making a custom model binder per the blog link I posted above but it didn't work (there was an issue with reflection) and I needed to get something going ASAP. PS - I tried to cleanup the code to hide specific information, so beware I may have hosed something up. I mainly just want to know if other people have solved this problem. Thanks!

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Decode html tag so that it can be read when it goes back to the server more specifically the controller

- by Yusuf

My engine is Aspx. How can I decode/encode the html tags that is in my text box. I have the html tag to make it more readable. I tried the ValidationRequest and the htmlDecode(freqQuestion.Answer) but no luck. I just keep getting the same message. Server Error in '/Administrator' Application. A potentially dangerous Request.Form value was detected from the client (QuestionAnswer="...ics Phone:123-456-7890 Description: Request Validation has detected a potentially dangerous client input value, and processing of the request has been aborted. This value may indicate an attempt to compromise the security of your application, such as a cross-site scripting attack. To allow pages to override application request validation settings, set the requestValidationMode attribute in the httpRuntime configuration section to requestValidationMode="2.0". Example: . After setting this value, you can then disable request validation by setting validateRequest="false" in the Page directive or in the configuration section. However, it is strongly recommended that your application explicitly check all inputs in this case. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=153133. View Page <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" validateRequest="false" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<dynamic>" %> <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server"> EditFreqQuestionsUser </asp:Content> <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function () { $("#freqQuestionsUserUpdateButton").click(function () { $("#updateFreqQuestionsUser").submit(); }); }); </script> <h2>Edit Freq Questions User </h2> <%Administrator.DarkstarAdminProductionServices.FreqQuestionsUser freqQuestionsUser = ViewBag.freqQuestionsUser != null ? ViewBag.freqQuestionsUser : new Administrator.DarkstarAdminProductionServices.FreqQuestionsUser(); %> <%List<string> UserRoleList = Session["UserRoles"] != null ? (List<string>)Session["UserRoles"] : new List<string>(); %> <form id="updateFreqQuestionsUser" action="<%=Url.Action("SaveFreqQuestionsUser","Prod")%>" method="post"> <table> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="tableHeader">Freq Questions User Details <input type ="hidden" value="<%=freqQuestionsUser.freqQuestionsUserId%>" name="freqQuestionsUserId"/> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="label">Question Description:</td> <td class="content"> <input type="text" maxlength="2000" name="QuestionDescription" value="<%=freqQuestionsUser.questionDescription%>" /> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" class="label">QuestionAnswer:</td> <td class="content"> <input type="text" maxlength="2000" name="QuestionAnswer" value="<%=Server.HtmlDecode(freqQuestionsUser.questionAnswer)%>" /> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="tableFooter"> <br /> <a id="freqQuestionsUserUpdateButton" href="#" class="regularButton">Save</a> <a href="javascript:history.back()" class="regularButton">Cancel</a> </td> </tr> </table> </form> </asp:Content> Controller [AuthorizeAttribute(AdminRoles = "EditFreqQuestionsUser")] public ActionResult SaveFreqQuestionsUser(string QuestionDescription, string QuestionAnswer) { Guid freqQuestionsUserId = Request.Form["freqQuestionsUserId"] != null ? new Guid(Request.Form["freqQuestionsUserId"]) : Guid.Empty; //load agreement eula ref AdminProductionServices.FreqQuestionsUser freqqQuestionsUser = Administrator.Models.AdminProduction.FreqQuestionsUser.LoadFreqQuestionsUser(freqQuestionsUserId, string.Empty, string.Empty)[0]; freqqQuestionsUser.questionDescription = QuestionDescription; freqqQuestionsUser.questionAnswer = QuestionAnswer; //save it Administrator.Models.AdminProduction.FreqQuestionsUser.addFreqQuestionsUser(freqqQuestionsUser); return RedirectToAction("SearchFreqQuestionsUser", "Prod", new { FreqQuestionsUserId = freqQuestionsUserId }); }

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C# MVC: User Password Reset Controller: Issues with email addresses as usernames

- by 109221793

Hi guys, I have written the code below for resetting users passwords (am using the aspnet membership api) in an C# MVC application, and tested successfully on a sample tutorial application (MVC Music Store). Skip to the end if you wish to read problem description first. InactiveUsers View (Partial View) <%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<System.Web.Security.MembershipUserCollection>" %> <table class="normal" style="width: 100%; background-color: White;"> <tr> <th>User Name</th> <th>Last Activity date</th> <th>Locked Out</th> </tr> <%foreach (MembershipUser user in Model){ %> <tr> <td><%: Html.RouteLink(user.UserName, "AdminPassword", new { username = user.UserName }) %></td> <td><%: user.LastActivityDate %></td> <td><%: user.IsLockedOut %></td> </tr> <% }%> </table> InactiveUsers Controller public ActionResult InactiveUsers() { var users = Membership.GetAllUsers(); return View(users); } changeUserPassword GET and POST Controllers public ActionResult changeUserPassword(string username) { ViewData["username"] = username; return View(); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult changeUserPassword(ChangePasswordModel model, FormCollection values) { string username = values["username"]; string password = values["password"]; string confirmPassword = values["confirmPassword"]; MembershipUser mu = Membership.GetUser(username); if (password == confirmPassword) { if (mu.ChangePassword(mu.ResetPassword(), password)) { return RedirectToAction("Index", "ControlPanel"); } else { ModelState.AddModelError("", "The current password does not meet requirements"); } } return View(); } I also modified the Global.asax.cs file to cater for my route in the InactiveUsers partial: // Added in 10/01/11 RouteTable.Routes.MapRoute( "AdminPassword", // routename "ControlPanel/changeUserPassword/{username}", new { controller = "ControlPanel", action = "changeUserPassword", username = UrlParameter.Optional } ); // END Now, when I tested on the MVC Music Store, all of my usernames were just words, e.g. Administrator, User, etc. However now I am applying this code to a situation in my workplace and it's not working out quite as planned. The usernames used in my workplace are actually email addresses and I think this is what is causing the problem. When I click on the RouteLink in the partial InactiveUsers view, it should bring me to the reset password page with a url that looks like this: http://localhost:83/ControlPanel/changeUserPassword/[email protected], HOWEVER, what happens when I click on the RouteLink is an error is thrown to say that the view changeUserPassword cannot be found, and the URL looks like this: http://localhost:83/ControlPanel/changeUserPassword/example1%40gmail.com - See how the '@' symbol gets messed up? I've also debugged through the code, and in my GET changeUserPassword, the username is populating correctly: [email protected], so I'm thinking it's just the URL that's messing it up? If I type in the URL manually, the changeUserPassword view displays, however the password reset function does not work. An 'Object reference not set to an instance of an object' exception is thrown at the if (mu.ChangePassword(mu.ResetPassword(), password)) line. I think if I could solve the first issue (URL '@' symbol problem) it might help me along with my second issue. Any help would be appreciated :) Stack Trace - as requested Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below. Stack Trace: [InvalidOperationException: The view 'changeUserPassword' or its master was not found. The following locations were searched: ~/Views/ControlPanel/changeUserPassword.aspx ~/Views/ControlPanel/changeUserPassword.ascx ~/Views/Shared/changeUserPassword.aspx ~/Views/Shared/changeUserPassword.ascx] System.Web.Mvc.ViewResult.FindView(ControllerContext context) +495 System.Web.Mvc.ViewResultBase.ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context) +208 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResult(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionResult actionResult) +39 System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass14.<InvokeActionResultWithFilters>b__11() +60 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultFilter(IResultFilter filter, ResultExecutingContext preContext, Func`1 continuation) +391 System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass16.<InvokeActionResultWithFilters>b__13() +61 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultWithFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, IList`1 filters, ActionResult actionResult) +285 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeAction(ControllerContext controllerContext, String actionName) +830 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.ExecuteCore() +136 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase.Execute(RequestContext requestContext) +111 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase.System.Web.Mvc.IController.Execute(RequestContext requestContext) +39 System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass8.<BeginProcessRequest>b__4() +65 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass1.<MakeVoidDelegate>b__0() +44 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass8`1.<BeginSynchronous>b__7(IAsyncResult _) +42 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +141 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.End(IAsyncResult asyncResult, Object tag) +54 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.End(IAsyncResult asyncResult, Object tag) +40 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +52 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result) +38 System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +8841105 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +184

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MVC DropDownListFor not populating the selected value

- by user2254436

I'm really having troubles with MVC, in another project I've done the same thing and it worked fine but in this project I just don't understand why the selected item in the dropdown is not populating the class correctly with EF. I have 2 classes: public partial class License { public License() { this.Customers = new HashSet<Customer>(); } public int LicenseID { get; set; } public int Lic_LicenseTypeID { get; set; } public int Lic_LicenseStatusID { get; set; } public string Lic_LicenseComments { get; set; } public virtual EntitiesList LicenseStatus { get; set; } public virtual EntitiesList LicenseType { get; set; } } public partial class EntitiesList { public EntitiesList() { this.LicensesStatus = new HashSet<License>(); this.LicensesType = new HashSet<License>(); } public int ListID { get; set; } public string List_EntityValue { get; set; } public string List_Comments { get; set; } public string List_EntityName { get; set; } public virtual ICollection<License> LicensesStatus { get; set; } public virtual ICollection<License> LicensesType { get; set; } public string List_DisplayName { get { return Regex.Replace(List_EntityName, "([a-z])([A-Z])", "$1 $2"); ; } } public string List_DisplayValue { get { return Regex.Replace(List_EntityValue, "([a-z])([A-Z])", "$1 $2"); } } } The EntitiesList is table in db that have all my "enum" lists. For example: ListID - 0 List_EntityValue - Activate List_EntityName - LicenseStatus ListID - 1 List_EntityValue - Basic List_EntityName - LicenseType This is my model: public class LicenseModel { public License License { get; set; } public SelectList LicenseStatuses { get; set; } public int SelectedStatus { get; set; } public SelectList LicenseTypes { get; set; } public int SelectedType { get; set; } } My controller for create: public ActionResult Create() { LicenseModel model = new LicenseModel(); model.License = new License(); model.LicenseStatuses = new SelectList(managerLists.GetAllLicenseStatuses(), "ListID", "List_DisplayValue"); model.LicenseTypes = new SelectList(managerLists.GetAllLicenseTypes(), "ListID", "List_DisplayValue"); return View(model); } [HttpPost] [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] public ActionResult Create(LicenseModel model) { if (ModelState.IsValid) { model.License.Lic_LicenseTypeID = model.SelectedType; model.License.Lic_LicenseStatusID = model.SelectedStatus; managerLicense.AddNewObject(model.License); return RedirectToAction("Index"); } return View(model); } managerLists and managerLicense are the managers that connect between the entities in db and the MVC UI, nothing special... they contains queries for adding new objects, getting the lists, editing and so on. And the view for creating the License: @using (Html.BeginForm()) { @Html.AntiForgeryToken() @Html.ValidationSummary(true) <fieldset> <legend>License</legend> <div class="form-group"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseTypeID) @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.SelectedType, Model.LicenseTypes, new { @class = "form-control" }) <p class="help-block">@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseTypeID)</p> </div> <div class="form-group"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseStatusID) @Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.SelectedStatus, Model.LicenseStatuses, new { @class = "form-control" }) <p class="help-block">@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseStatusID)</p> </div> <div class="form-group"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseComments) @Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseComments, new { @class = "form-control", rows = "3" }) <p class="help-block">@Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.License.Lic_LicenseComments)</p> </div> <p> <input type="submit" value="Create" /> </p> </fieldset> } Now, when I'm trying to save the new license, when it gets to the db.SaveChanges() in the manager I'm getting: "Validation failed for one or more entities. See 'EntityValidationErrors' property for more details." In breakpoint, the Lic_LicenseTypeID and Lic_LicenseStatusID are getting correctly the ID's from the selected item in the dropdown but the LicenseStatus and LicenseStatus properties are null. What an I missing?

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ASP.NET MVC2 - usage of LINQ-generated class (validation problem)

- by ile

There are few things not clear to me about ASP.NET MV2. In database I have table Contacts with several fields, and there is an additional field XmlFields of which type is xml. In that field are stored additional description fields. There are 4 classes: Contact class which corresponds to Contact table and is defined by default when creating LINQ classes ContactListView class which inherits Contact class and has some additional properties ContactXmlView class that contains fields from XmlFields field ContactDetailsView class which merges ContactListView and ContactXmlView into one class and this one is used to display data in view pages ContactListView class has re-defined some properties from Contact class (so that I can add [Required] filter used for validation) - but I get warning message: 'ObjectTest.Models.Contacts.ContactListView.FirstName' hides inherited member 'SA.Model.Contact.FirstName'. Use the new keyword if hiding was intended. ContactDetailsView class is also used in a form when creating new contact and adding it to database. I am not sure if this is correct way, and the warning message confuses me a bit. Any advise about this? Thanks, Ile EDIT According to Jakob's instructions I tried it from scratch: [MetadataType(typeof(Person_Validation))] public partial class Person { } public class Person_Validation { [Required] string FirstName { get; set; } [Required] string LastName { get; set; } [Required] int Age { get; set; } } In Controller I have this: [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(Person person, FormCollection collection) { if (ModelState.IsValid) { try { personRepository.Add(person); personRepository.Save(); } catch { return View(person); } } return RedirectToAction("Index"); } View: <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<Validate.Models.Person>" %> <asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server"> Create </asp:Content> <asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <h2>Create</h2> <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%> <%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %> <fieldset> <legend>Fields</legend> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.FirstName) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.FirstName) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.FirstName) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.LastName) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.LastName) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.LastName) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.Age) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Age) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Age) %> </div> <p> <input type="submit" value="Create" /> </p> </fieldset> <% } %> <div> <%= Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index") %> </div> </asp:Content> When posting new person with no values, nothing happens (page is just reloaded). When posting with some values, person is added to db. I have no idea what am I doing wrong.

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Using Rich Text Editor (WYSIWYG) in ASP.NET MVC

- by imran_ku07

Introduction: In ASP.NET MVC forum I found some question regarding a sample HTML Rich Text Box Editor(also known as wysiwyg).So i decided to create a sample ASP.NET MVC web application which will use a Rich Text Box Editor. There are are lot of Html Editors are available, but for creating a sample application, i decided to use cross-browser WYSIWYG editor from openwebware. In this article I will discuss what changes needed to work this editor with ASP.NET MVC. Also I had attached the sample application for download at http://www.speedfile.org/155076. Also note that I will only show the important features, not discuss every feature in detail. Description: So Let's start create a sample ASP.NET MVC application. You need to add the following script files, jquery-1.3.2.min.js jquery_form.js wysiwyg.js wysiwyg-settings.js wysiwyg-popup.js Just put these files inside Scripts folder. Also put wysiwyg.css in your Content Folder and add the following folders in your project addons popups Also create a empty folder Uploads to store the uploaded images. Next open wysiwyg.js and set your configuration // Images Directory this.ImagesDir = "/addons/imagelibrary/images/"; // Popups Directory this.PopupsDir = "/popups/"; // CSS Directory File this.CSSFile = "/Content/wysiwyg.css"; Next create a simple View TextEditor.aspx inside View / Home Folder and add the folllowing HTML. <%@ Page Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html > <head runat="server"> <title>TextEditor</title> <script src="../../Scripts/wysiwyg.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="../../Scripts/wysiwyg-settings.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> WYSIWYG.attach('text', full); </script> </head> <body> <% using (Html.BeginForm()){ %> <textarea id="text" name="test2" style="width:850px;height:200px;"> </textarea> <input type="submit" value="submit" /> <%} %> </body> </html> Here i have just added a text area control and a submit button inside a form. Note the id of text area and WYSIWYG.attach function's first parameter is same and next to watch is the HomeController.cs using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Web; using System.Web.Mvc; using System.IO; namespace HtmlTextEditor.Controllers { [HandleError] public class HomeController : Controller { public ActionResult Index() { ViewData["Message"] = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!"; return View(); } public ActionResult About() { return View(); } public ActionResult TextEditor() { return View(); } [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)] [ValidateInput(false)] public ActionResult TextEditor(string test2) { Session["html"] = test2; return RedirectToAction("Index"); } public ActionResult UploadImage() { if (Request.Files[0].FileName != "") { Request.Files[0].SaveAs(Server.MapPath("~/Uploads/" + Path.GetFileName(Request.Files[0].FileName))); return Content(Url.Content("~/Uploads/" + Path.GetFileName(Request.Files[0].FileName))); } return Content("a"); } } } So simple code, just save the posted Html into Session. Here the parameter of TextArea action is test2 which is same as textarea control name of TextArea.aspx View. Also note ValidateInputAttribute is false, so it's up to you to defends against XSS. Also there is an Action method which simply saves the file inside Upload Folder. I am uploading the file using Jquery Form Plugin. Here is the code which is found in insert_image.html inside addons folder, function ChangeImage() { var myform=document.getElementById("formUpload"); $(myform).ajaxSubmit({success: function(responseText){ insertImage(responseText); window.close(); } }); } and here is the Index View which simply renders the html of Editor which was saved in Session <%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.Master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" %> <asp:Content ID="indexTitle" ContentPlaceHolderID="TitleContent" runat="server"> Home Page </asp:Content> <asp:Content ID="indexContent" ContentPlaceHolderID="MainContent" runat="server"> <h2><%= Html.Encode(ViewData["Message"]) %></h2> <p> To learn more about ASP.NET MVC visit <a href="http://asp.net/mvc" title="ASP.NET MVC Website">http://asp.net/mvc</a>. </p> <%if (Session["html"] != null){ Response.Write(Session["html"].ToString()); } %> </asp:Content> Summary: Hopefully you will enjoy this article. Just download the code and see the effect. From security point, you must handle the XSS attack your self. I had uploaded the sample application in http://www.speedfile.org/155076

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Security Issues with Single Page Apps

- by Stephen.Walther

Last week, I was asked to do a code review of a Single Page App built using the ASP.NET Web API, Durandal, and Knockout (good stuff!). In particular, I was asked to investigate whether there any special security issues associated with building a Single Page App which are not present in the case of a traditional server-side ASP.NET application. In this blog entry, I discuss two areas in which you need to exercise extra caution when building a Single Page App. I discuss how Single Page Apps are extra vulnerable to both Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks and Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks. This goal of this blog post is NOT to persuade you to avoid writing Single Page Apps. I’m a big fan of Single Page Apps. Instead, the goal is to ensure that you are fully aware of some of the security issues related to Single Page Apps and ensure that you know how to guard against them. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Attacks According to WhiteHat Security, over 65% of public websites are open to XSS attacks. That’s bad. By taking advantage of XSS holes in a website, a hacker can steal your credit cards, passwords, or bank account information. Any website that redisplays untrusted information is open to XSS attacks. Let me give you a simple example. Imagine that you want to display the name of the current user on a page. To do this, you create the following server-side ASP.NET page located at http://MajorBank.com/SomePage.aspx: <%@Page Language="C#" %> <html> <head> <title>Some Page</title> </head> <body> Welcome <%= Request["username"] %> </body> </html> Nothing fancy here. Notice that the page displays the current username by using Request[“username”]. Using Request[“username”] displays the username regardless of whether the username is present in a cookie, a form field, or a query string variable. Unfortunately, by using Request[“username”] to redisplay untrusted information, you have now opened your website to XSS attacks. Here’s how. Imagine that an evil hacker creates the following link on another website (hackers.com): <a href="/SomePage.aspx?username=<script src=Evil.js></script>">Visit MajorBank</a> Notice that the link includes a query string variable named username and the value of the username variable is an HTML <SCRIPT> tag which points to a JavaScript file named Evil.js. When anyone clicks on the link, the <SCRIPT> tag will be injected into SomePage.aspx and the Evil.js script will be loaded and executed. What can a hacker do in the Evil.js script? Anything the hacker wants. For example, the hacker could display a popup dialog on the MajorBank.com site which asks the user to enter their password. The script could then post the password back to hackers.com and now the evil hacker has your secret password. ASP.NET Web Forms and ASP.NET MVC have two automatic safeguards against this type of attack: Request Validation and Automatic HTML Encoding. Protecting Coming In (Request Validation) In a server-side ASP.NET app, you are protected against the XSS attack described above by a feature named Request Validation. If you attempt to submit “potentially dangerous” content — such as a JavaScript <SCRIPT> tag — in a form field or query string variable then you get an exception. Unfortunately, Request Validation only applies to server-side apps. Request Validation does not help in the case of a Single Page App. In particular, the ASP.NET Web API does not pay attention to Request Validation. You can post any content you want – including <SCRIPT> tags – to an ASP.NET Web API action. For example, the following HTML page contains a form. When you submit the form, the form data is submitted to an ASP.NET Web API controller on the server using an Ajax request: <!DOCTYPE html> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title></title> </head> <body> <form data-bind="submit:submit"> <div> <label> User Name: <input data-bind="value:user.userName" /> </label> </div> <div> <label> Email: <input data-bind="value:user.email" /> </label> </div> <div> <input type="submit" value="Submit" /> </div> </form> <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.1.js"></script> <script src="Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js"></script> <script> var viewModel = { user: { userName: ko.observable(), email: ko.observable() }, submit: function () { $.post("/api/users", ko.toJS(this.user)); } }; ko.applyBindings(viewModel); </script> </body> </html> The form above is using Knockout to bind the form fields to a view model. When you submit the form, the view model is submitted to an ASP.NET Web API action on the server. Here’s the server-side ASP.NET Web API controller and model class: public class UsersController : ApiController { public HttpResponseMessage Post(UserViewModel user) { var userName = user.UserName; return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK); } } public class UserViewModel { public string UserName { get; set; } public string Email { get; set; } } If you submit the HTML form, you don’t get an error. The “potentially dangerous” content is passed to the server without any exception being thrown. In the screenshot below, you can see that I was able to post a username form field with the value “<script>alert(‘boo’)</script”. So what this means is that you do not get automatic Request Validation in the case of a Single Page App. You need to be extra careful in a Single Page App about ensuring that you do not display untrusted content because you don’t have the Request Validation safety net which you have in a traditional server-side ASP.NET app. Protecting Going Out (Automatic HTML Encoding) Server-side ASP.NET also protects you from XSS attacks when you render content. By default, all content rendered by the razor view engine is HTML encoded. For example, the following razor view displays the text “<b>Hello!</b>” instead of the text “Hello!” in bold: @{ var message = "<b>Hello!</b>"; } @message If you don’t want to render content as HTML encoded in razor then you need to take the extra step of using the @Html.Raw() helper. In a Web Form page, if you use <%: %> instead of <%= %> then you get automatic HTML Encoding: <%@ Page Language="C#" %> <% var message = "<b>Hello!</b>"; %> <%: message %> This automatic HTML Encoding will prevent many types of XSS attacks. It prevents <script> tags from being rendered and only allows <script> tags to be rendered which are useless for executing JavaScript. (This automatic HTML encoding does not protect you from all forms of XSS attacks. For example, you can assign the value “javascript:alert(‘evil’)” to the Hyperlink control’s NavigateUrl property and execute the JavaScript). The situation with Knockout is more complicated. If you use the Knockout TEXT binding then you get HTML encoded content. On the other hand, if you use the HTML binding then you do not:  <div data-bind="text:someProp"></div>  <div data-bind="html:someProp"></div> <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.1.js"></script> <script src="Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js"></script> <script> var viewModel = { someProp : "<script>alert('Evil!')<" + "/script>" }; ko.applyBindings(viewModel); </script> So, in the page above, the DIV element which uses the TEXT binding is safe from XSS attacks. According to the Knockout documentation: “Since this binding sets your text value using a text node, it’s safe to set any string value without risking HTML or script injection.” Just like server-side HTML encoding, Knockout does not protect you from all types of XSS attacks. For example, there is nothing in Knockout which prevents you from binding JavaScript to a hyperlink like this: <a data-bind="attr:{href:homePageUrl}">Go</a> <script src="Scripts/jquery-1.7.1.min.js"></script> <script src="Scripts/knockout-2.1.0.js"></script> <script> var viewModel = { homePageUrl: "javascript:alert('evil!')" }; ko.applyBindings(viewModel); </script> In the page above, the value “javascript:alert(‘evil’)” is bound to the HREF attribute using Knockout. When you click the link, the JavaScript executes. Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Attacks Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks rely on the fact that a session cookie does not expire until you close your browser. In particular, if you visit and login to MajorBank.com and then you navigate to Hackers.com then you will still be authenticated against MajorBank.com even after you navigate to Hackers.com. Because MajorBank.com cannot tell whether a request is coming from MajorBank.com or Hackers.com, Hackers.com can submit requests to MajorBank.com pretending to be you. For example, Hackers.com can post an HTML form from Hackers.com to MajorBank.com and change your email address at MajorBank.com. Hackers.com can post a form to MajorBank.com using your authentication cookie. After your email address has been changed, by using a password reset page at MajorBank.com, a hacker can access your bank account. To prevent CSRF attacks, you need some mechanism for detecting whether a request is coming from a page loaded from your website or whether the request is coming from some other website. The recommended way of preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks is to use the “Synchronizer Token Pattern” as described here: https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Cross-Site_Request_Forgery_%28CSRF%29_Prevention_Cheat_Sheet When using the Synchronizer Token Pattern, you include a hidden input field which contains a random token whenever you display an HTML form. When the user opens the form, you add a cookie to the user’s browser with the same random token. When the user posts the form, you verify that the hidden form token and the cookie token match. Preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery Attacks with ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET gives you a helper and an action filter which you can use to thwart Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks. For example, the following razor form for creating a product shows how you use the @Html.AntiForgeryToken() helper: @model MvcApplication2.Models.Product <h2>Create Product</h2> @using (Html.BeginForm()) { @Html.AntiForgeryToken(); <div> @Html.LabelFor( p => p.Name, "Product Name:") @Html.TextBoxFor( p => p.Name) </div> <div> @Html.LabelFor( p => p.Price, "Product Price:") @Html.TextBoxFor( p => p.Price) </div> <input type="submit" /> } The @Html.AntiForgeryToken() helper generates a random token and assigns a serialized version of the same random token to both a cookie and a hidden form field. (Actually, if you dive into the source code, the AntiForgeryToken() does something a little more complex because it takes advantage of a user’s identity when generating the token). Here’s what the hidden form field looks like: <input name=”__RequestVerificationToken” type=”hidden” value=”NqqZGAmlDHh6fPTNR_mti3nYGUDgpIkCiJHnEEL59S7FNToyyeSo7v4AfzF2i67Cv0qTB1TgmZcqiVtgdkW2NnXgEcBc-iBts0x6WAIShtM1″ /> And here’s what the cookie looks like using the Google Chrome developer toolbar: You use the [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] action filter on the controller action which is the recipient of the form post to validate that the token in the hidden form field matches the token in the cookie. If the tokens don’t match then validation fails and you can’t post the form: public ActionResult Create() { return View(); } [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(Product productToCreate) { if (ModelState.IsValid) { // save product to db return RedirectToAction("Index"); } return View(); } How does this all work? Let’s imagine that a hacker has copied the Create Product page from MajorBank.com to Hackers.com – the hacker grabs the HTML source and places it at Hackers.com. Now, imagine that the hacker trick you into submitting the Create Product form from Hackers.com to MajorBank.com. You’ll get the following exception: The Cross-Site Request Forgery attack is blocked because the anti-forgery token included in the Create Product form at Hackers.com won’t match the anti-forgery token stored in the cookie in your browser. The tokens were generated at different times for different users so the attack fails. Preventing Cross-Site Request Forgery Attacks with a Single Page App In a Single Page App, you can’t prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks using the same method as a server-side ASP.NET MVC app. In a Single Page App, HTML forms are not generated on the server. Instead, in a Single Page App, forms are loaded dynamically in the browser. Phil Haack has a blog post on this topic where he discusses passing the anti-forgery token in an Ajax header instead of a hidden form field. He also describes how you can create a custom anti-forgery token attribute to compare the token in the Ajax header and the token in the cookie. See: http://haacked.com/archive/2011/10/10/preventing-csrf-with-ajax.aspx Also, take a look at Johan’s update to Phil Haack’s original post: http://johan.driessen.se/posts/Updated-Anti-XSRF-Validation-for-ASP.NET-MVC-4-RC (Other server frameworks such as Rails and Django do something similar. For example, Rails uses an X-CSRF-Token to prevent CSRF attacks which you generate on the server – see http://excid3.com/blog/rails-tip-2-include-csrf-token-with-every-ajax-request/#.UTFtgDDkvL8 ). For example, if you are creating a Durandal app, then you can use the following razor view for your one and only server-side page: @{ Layout = null; } <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Index</title> </head> <body> @Html.AntiForgeryToken() <div id="applicationHost"> Loading app.... </div> @Scripts.Render("~/scripts/vendor") <script type="text/javascript" src="~/App/durandal/amd/require.js" data-main="/App/main"></script> </body> </html> Notice that this page includes a call to @Html.AntiForgeryToken() to generate the anti-forgery token. Then, whenever you make an Ajax request in the Durandal app, you can retrieve the anti-forgery token from the razor view and pass the token as a header: var csrfToken = $("input[name='__RequestVerificationToken']").val(); $.ajax({ headers: { __RequestVerificationToken: csrfToken }, type: "POST", dataType: "json", contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8', url: "/api/products", data: JSON.stringify({ name: "Milk", price: 2.33 }), statusCode: { 200: function () { alert("Success!"); } } }); Use the following code to create an action filter which you can use to match the header and cookie tokens: using System.Linq; using System.Net.Http; using System.Web.Helpers; using System.Web.Http.Controllers; namespace MvcApplication2.Infrastructure { public class ValidateAjaxAntiForgeryToken : System.Web.Http.AuthorizeAttribute { protected override bool IsAuthorized(HttpActionContext actionContext) { var headerToken = actionContext .Request .Headers .GetValues("__RequestVerificationToken") .FirstOrDefault(); ; var cookieToken = actionContext .Request .Headers .GetCookies() .Select(c => c[AntiForgeryConfig.CookieName]) .FirstOrDefault(); // check for missing cookie or header if (cookieToken == null || headerToken == null) { return false; } // ensure that the cookie matches the header try { AntiForgery.Validate(cookieToken.Value, headerToken); } catch { return false; } return base.IsAuthorized(actionContext); } } } Notice that the action filter derives from the base AuthorizeAttribute. The ValidateAjaxAntiForgeryToken only works when the user is authenticated and it will not work for anonymous requests. Add the action filter to your ASP.NET Web API controller actions like this: [ValidateAjaxAntiForgeryToken] public HttpResponseMessage PostProduct(Product productToCreate) { // add product to db return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK); } After you complete these steps, it won’t be possible for a hacker to pretend to be you at Hackers.com and submit a form to MajorBank.com. The header token used in the Ajax request won’t travel to Hackers.com. This approach works, but I am not entirely happy with it. The one thing that I don’t like about this approach is that it creates a hard dependency on using razor. Your single page in your Single Page App must be generated from a server-side razor view. A better solution would be to generate the anti-forgery token in JavaScript. Unfortunately, until all browsers support a way to generate cryptographically strong random numbers – for example, by supporting the window.crypto.getRandomValues() method — there is no good way to generate anti-forgery tokens in JavaScript. So, at least right now, the best solution for generating the tokens is the server-side solution with the (regrettable) dependency on razor. Conclusion The goal of this blog entry was to explore some ways in which you need to handle security differently in the case of a Single Page App than in the case of a traditional server app. In particular, I focused on how to prevent Cross-Site Scripting and Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks in the case of a Single Page App. I want to emphasize that I am not suggesting that Single Page Apps are inherently less secure than server-side apps. Whatever type of web application you build – regardless of whether it is a Single Page App, an ASP.NET MVC app, an ASP.NET Web Forms app, or a Rails app – you must constantly guard against security vulnerabilities.

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MVC 2 Entity Framework View Model Insert

- by cannibalcorpse

This is driving me crazy. Hopefully my question makes sense... I'm using MVC 2 and Entity Framework 1 and am trying to insert a new record with two navigation properties. I have a SQL table, Categories, that has a lookup table CategoryTypes and another self-referencing lookup CategoryParent. EF makes two nav properties on my Category model, one called Parent and another called CategoryType, both instances of their respective models. On my view that creates the new Category, I have two dropdowns, one for the CategoryType and another for the ParentCategory. When I try and insert the new Category WITHOUT the ParentCategory, which allows nulls, everything is fine. As soon as I add the ParentCategory, the insert fails, and oddly (or so I think) complains about the CategoryType in the form of this error: 0 related 'CategoryTypes' were found. 1 'CategoryTypes' is expected. When I step through, I can verifiy that both ID properties coming in on the action method parameter are correct. I can also verify that when I go to the db to get the CategoryType and ParentCategory with the ID's, the records are being pulled fine. Yet it fails on SaveChanges(). All that I can see is that my CategoryParent dropdownlistfor in my view, is somehow causing the insert to bomb. Please see my comments in my httpPost Create action method. My view model looks like this: public class EditModel { public Category MainCategory { get; set; } public IEnumerable<CategoryType> CategoryTypesList { get; set; } public IEnumerable<Category> ParentCategoriesList { get; set; } } My Create action methods look like this: // GET: /Categories/Create public ActionResult Create() { return View(new EditModel() { CategoryTypesList = _db.CategoryTypeSet.ToList(), ParentCategoriesList = _db.CategorySet.ToList() }); } // POST: /Categories/Create [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(Category mainCategory) { if (!ModelState.IsValid) return View(new EditModel() { MainCategory = mainCategory, CategoryTypesList = _db.CategoryTypeSet.ToList(), ParentCategoriesList = _db.CategorySet.ToList() }); mainCategory.CategoryType = _db.CategoryTypeSet.First(ct => ct.Id == mainCategory.CategoryType.Id); // This db call DOES get the correct Category, but fails on _db.SaveChanges(). // Oddly the error is related to CategoryTypes and not Category. // Entities in 'DbEntities.CategorySet' participate in the 'FK_Categories_CategoryTypes' relationship. // 0 related 'CategoryTypes' were found. 1 'CategoryTypes' is expected. //mainCategory.Parent = _db.CategorySet.First(c => c.Id == mainCategory.Parent.Id); // If I just use the literal ID of the same Category, // AND comment out the CategoryParent dropdownlistfor in the view, all is fine. mainCategory.Parent = _db.CategorySet.First(c => c.Id == 2); _db.AddToCategorySet(mainCategory); _db.SaveChanges(); return RedirectToAction("Index"); } Here is my Create form on the view : <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%> <%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %> <fieldset> <legend>Fields</legend> <div> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.MainCategory.Parent.Id) %> <%= Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.MainCategory.Parent.Id, new SelectList(Model.ParentCategoriesList, "Id", "Name")) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MainCategory.Parent.Id) %> </div> <div> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.MainCategory.CategoryType.Id) %> <%= Html.DropDownListFor(model => model.MainCategory.CategoryType.Id, new SelectList(Model.CategoryTypesList, "Id", "Name"))%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MainCategory.CategoryType.Id)%> </div> <div> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.MainCategory.Name) %> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.MainCategory.Name)%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MainCategory.Name)%> </div> <div> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.MainCategory.Description)%> <%= Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.MainCategory.Description)%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MainCategory.Description)%> </div> <div> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.MainCategory.SeoName)%> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.MainCategory.SeoName, new { @class = "large" })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MainCategory.SeoName)%> </div> <div> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.MainCategory.HasHomepage)%> <%= Html.CheckBoxFor(model => model.MainCategory.HasHomepage)%> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.MainCategory.HasHomepage)%> </div> <p><input type="submit" value="Create" /></p> </fieldset> <% } %> Maybe I've just been staying up too late playing with MVC 2? :) Please let me know if I'm not being clear enough.

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xVal 1.0 not generating the correct xVal.AttachValidator script in view

- by bastijn

I'm currently implementing xVal client-side validation. The server-side validation is working correctly at the moment. I have referenced xVall.dll (from xVal1.0.zip) in my project as well as the System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations and System.web.mvc.DataAnnotations from the Data Annotations Model Binder Sample found at http://aspnet.codeplex.com/releases/view/24471. I have modified the method BindProperty in the DataAnnotationsModelBinder class since it returned a nullpointer exception telling me the modelState object was null. Some blogposts described to modify the method and I did according to this SO post. Next I put the following lines in my global.asax: protected void Application_Start() { // kept same and added following line RegisterModelBinders(ModelBinders.Binders); // Add this line } public void RegisterModelBinders(ModelBinderDictionary binders) // Add this whole method { binders.DefaultBinder = new Microsoft.Web.Mvc.DataAnnotations.DataAnnotationsModelBinder(); } Now, I have made a partial class and a metadata class since I use the entity framework and you cannot create partial declarations as of yet so I have: [MetadataType(typeof(PersonMetaData))] public partial class Persons { // .... } public class PersonMetaData { private const string EmailRegEx = @"^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+" + @"(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))@" + @"((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}" + @"\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+" + @"[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$"; [Required] public string FirstName { get; set; } [Required] public string LastName { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage="Please fill in your email")] [RegularExpression(EmailRegEx,ErrorMessage="Please supply a valid email address")] public string Email { get; set; } } And in my controller I have the POST edit method which currently still use a FormCollection instead of a Persons object as input. I have to change this later on but due to time constraints and some strange bug this isnt done as of yet :). It shouldnt matter though. Below it is my view. // // POST: /Jobs/Edit/5 //[CustomAuthorize(Roles = "admin,moderator")] [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)] public ActionResult Edit([Bind(Exclude = "Id")]FormCollection form) { Persons person = this.GetLoggedInPerson(); person.UpdatedAt = DateTime.Now; // Update the updated time. TryUpdateModel(person, null, null, new string[]{"Id"}); if (ModelState.IsValid) { repository.SaveChanges(); return RedirectToAction("Index", "ControlPanel"); } return View(person); } #endregion My view contains a partial page containing the form. In my edit.aspx I have the following code: <div class="content"> <% Html.RenderPartial("PersonForm", Model); %> </div> </div> and in the .ascx partial page: <%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<WerkStageNu.Persons>" %> <% if (!Model.AddressesReference.IsLoaded) { %> <% Model.AddressesReference.Load(); %> <% } %> <%= Html.ValidationSummary("Edit was unsuccessful. Please correct the errors and try again.") %> <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%> <fieldset> <legend>General information</legend> <table> <tr> <td><label for="FirstName">FirstName:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("FirstName", Model.FirstName)%><%= Html.ValidationMessage("FirstName", "*")%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="LastName">LastName:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("LastName", Model.LastName)%><%= Html.ValidationMessage("LastName", "*")%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Email">Email:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Email", Model.Email)%><%= Html.ValidationMessage("Email", "*")%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Telephone">Telephone:</label></td><td> <%= Html.TextBox("Telephone", Model.Telephone) %><%= Html.ValidationMessage("Telephone", "*") %></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Fax">Fax:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Fax", Model.Fax) %><%= Html.ValidationMessage("Fax", "*") %></td> </tr> </table> <%--<p> <label for="GenderID"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.gender) %>:</label> <%= Html.DropDownList("GenderID", Model.Genders)%> </p> --%> </fieldset> <fieldset> <legend><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.addressinformation) %></legend> <table> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.City"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.city) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.City", Model.Addresses.City)%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.Street"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.street) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.Street", Model.Addresses.Street)%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.StreetNo"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.streetNumber) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.StreetNo", Model.Addresses.StreetNo)%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.Country"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.county) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.Country", Model.Addresses.Country)%></td> </tr> </table> </fieldset> <p> <input type="image" src="../../Content/images/save_btn.png" /> </p> <%= Html.ClientSideValidation(typeof(WerkStageNu.Persons)) %> <% } % Still nothing really stunning over here. In combination with the edited data annotation dlls this gives me server-side validation working (although i have to manually exclude the "id" property as done in the TryUpdateModel). The strange thing is that it still generates the following script in my View: xVal.AttachValidator(null, {"Fields":[{"FieldName":"ID","FieldRules": [{"RuleName":"DataType","RuleParameters":{"Type":"Integer"}}]}]}, {}) While all the found blogposts on this ( 1, 2 ) but all of those are old posts and all say it should be fixed from xVal 0.8 and up. The last thing I found was this post but I did not really understand. I referenced using Visual Studio - add reference -- browse - selected from my bin dir where I stored the external compiled dlls (copied to the bin dir of my project). Can anyone tell me where the problem originates from? EDIT Adding the reference from the .NET tab fixed the problem somehow. While earlier adding from this tab resulted in a nullpointer error since it used the standard DataAnnotations delivered with the MVC1 framework instead of the freshly build one. Is it because I dropped the .dll in my bin dir that it now picks the correct one? Or why?

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xVal 1.0 not generating the correct xVal.AttachValidator

- by bastijn

I'm currently implementing xVal client-side validation. The server-side validation is working correctly at the moment. I have referenced xVall.dll (from xVal1.0.zip) in my project as well as the System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations and System.web.mvc.DataAnnotations from the Data Annotations Model Binder Sample found at http://aspnet.codeplex.com/releases/view/24471. I have modified the method BindProperty in the DataAnnotationsModelBinder class since it returned a nullpointer exception telling me the modelState object was null. Some blogposts described to modify the method and I did according to this SO post. Next I put the following lines in my global.asax: protected void Application_Start() { // kept same and added following line RegisterModelBinders(ModelBinders.Binders); // Add this line } public void RegisterModelBinders(ModelBinderDictionary binders) // Add this whole method { binders.DefaultBinder = new Microsoft.Web.Mvc.DataAnnotations.DataAnnotationsModelBinder(); } Now, I have made a partial class and a metadata class since I use the entity framework and you cannot create partial declarations as of yet so I have: [MetadataType(typeof(PersonMetaData))] public partial class Persons { // .... } public class PersonMetaData { private const string EmailRegEx = @"^(([^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+" + @"(\.[^<>()[\]\\.,;:\s@\""]+)*)|(\"".+\""))@" + @"((\[[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}\.[0-9]{1,3}" + @"\.[0-9]{1,3}\])|(([a-zA-Z\-0-9]+\.)+" + @"[a-zA-Z]{2,}))$"; [Required] public string FirstName { get; set; } [Required] public string LastName { get; set; } [Required(ErrorMessage="Please fill in your email")] [RegularExpression(EmailRegEx,ErrorMessage="Please supply a valid email address")] public string Email { get; set; } } And in my controller I have the POST edit method which currently still use a FormCollection instead of a Persons object as input. I have to change this later on but due to time constraints and some strange bug this isnt done as of yet :). It shouldnt matter though. Below it is my view. // // POST: /Jobs/Edit/5 //[CustomAuthorize(Roles = "admin,moderator")] [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)] public ActionResult Edit([Bind(Exclude = "Id")]FormCollection form) { Persons person = this.GetLoggedInPerson(); person.UpdatedAt = DateTime.Now; // Update the updated time. TryUpdateModel(person, null, null, new string[]{"Id"}); if (ModelState.IsValid) { repository.SaveChanges(); return RedirectToAction("Index", "ControlPanel"); } return View(person); } #endregion My view contains a partial page containing the form. In my edit.aspx I have the following code: <div class="content"> <% Html.RenderPartial("PersonForm", Model); %> </div> </div> and in the .ascx partial page: <%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<WerkStageNu.Persons>" %> <% if (!Model.AddressesReference.IsLoaded) { % <% Model.AddressesReference.Load(); % <% } % <%= Html.ValidationSummary("Edit was unsuccessful. Please correct the errors and try again.") % <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%> <fieldset> <legend>General information</legend> <table> <tr> <td><label for="FirstName">FirstName:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("FirstName", Model.FirstName)%><%= Html.ValidationMessage("FirstName", "*")%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="LastName">LastName:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("LastName", Model.LastName)%><%= Html.ValidationMessage("LastName", "*")%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Email">Email:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Email", Model.Email)%><%= Html.ValidationMessage("Email", "*")%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Telephone">Telephone:</label></td><td> <%= Html.TextBox("Telephone", Model.Telephone) %><%= Html.ValidationMessage("Telephone", "*") %></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Fax">Fax:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Fax", Model.Fax) %><%= Html.ValidationMessage("Fax", "*") %></td> </tr> </table> <%--<p> <label for="GenderID"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.gender) %>:</label> <%= Html.DropDownList("GenderID", Model.Genders)%> </p> --%> </fieldset> <fieldset> <legend><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.addressinformation) %></legend> <table> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.City"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.city) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.City", Model.Addresses.City)%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.Street"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.street) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.Street", Model.Addresses.Street)%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.StreetNo"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.streetNumber) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.StreetNo", Model.Addresses.StreetNo)%></td> </tr> <tr> <td><label for="Addresses.Country"><%= Html.Encode(Resources.Forms.county) %>:</label></td><td><%= Html.TextBox("Addresses.Country", Model.Addresses.Country)%></td> </tr> </table> </fieldset> <p> <input type="image" src="../../Content/images/save_btn.png" /> </p> <%= Html.ClientSideValidation(typeof(WerkStageNu.Persons)) %> <% } % Still nothing really stunning over here. In combination with the edited data annotation dlls this gives me server-side validation working (although i have to manually exclude the "id" property as done in the TryUpdateModel). The strange thing is that it still generates the following script in my View: xVal.AttachValidator(null, {"Fields":[{"FieldName":"ID","FieldRules": [{"RuleName":"DataType","RuleParameters":{"Type":"Integer"}}]}]}, {}) While all the found blogposts on this ( 1, 2 ) but all of those are old posts and all say it should be fixed from xVal 0.8 and up. The last thing I found was this post but I did not really understand. I referenced using Visual Studio - add reference -- browse - selected from my bin dir where I stored the external compiled dlls (copied to the bin dir of my project). Can anyone tell me where the problem originates from?

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Problem with updating data in asp .NET MVC 2 application

- by Bojan

Hello everyone, i am just getting started with asp .NET MVC 2 applications and i stumbled upon a problem. I'm having trouble updating my tables. The debugger doesn't report any error, it just doesn't do anything... I hope some can help me out. Thank you for your time. This is my controller code... public ActionResult Edit(int id) { var supplierToEdit = (from c in _entities.SupplierSet where c.SupplierId == id select c).FirstOrDefault(); return View(supplierToEdit); } // // POST: /Supplier/Edit/5 [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)] public ActionResult Edit(Supplier supplierToEdit) { if (!ModelState.IsValid) return View(); try { var originalSupplier = (from c in _entities.SupplierSet where c.SupplierId == supplierToEdit.SupplierId select c).FirstOrDefault(); _entities.ApplyPropertyChanges(originalSupplier.EntityKey.EntitySetName, supplierToEdit); _entities.SaveChanges(); // TODO: Add update logic here return RedirectToAction("Index"); } catch { return View(); } } This is my View ... <h2>Edit</h2> <% using (Html.BeginForm()) {%> <%= Html.ValidationSummary(true) %> <fieldset> <legend>Fields</legend> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.CompanyName) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.CompanyName) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.CompanyName) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.ContactName) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.ContactName) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ContactName) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.ContactTitle) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.ContactTitle) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.ContactTitle) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.Address) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Address) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Address) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.City) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.City) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.City) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.PostalCode) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.PostalCode) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.PostalCode) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.Country) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Country) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Country) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.Telephone) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Telephone) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Telephone) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.Fax) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Fax) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Fax) %> </div> <div class="editor-label"> <%= Html.LabelFor(model => model.HomePage) %> </div> <div class="editor-field"> <%= Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.HomePage) %> <%= Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.HomePage) %> </div> <p> <input type="submit" value="Save" /> </p> </fieldset> <% } %> <div> <%= Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index") %> </div>

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MVC 3 Client Validation works intermittently

- by Gutek

I have MVC 3 version, System.Web.Mvc product version is: 3.0.20105.0 modified on 5th of Jan 2011 - i think that's the latest. I’ve notice that client validation is not working as it suppose in the application that we are creating, so I’ve made a quick test. I’ve created basic MVC 3 Application using Internet Application template. I’ve added Test Controller: using System.Web.Mvc; using MvcApplication3.Models; namespace MvcApplication3.Controllers { public class TestController : Controller { public ActionResult Index() { return View(); } public ActionResult Create() { Sample model = new Sample(); return View(model); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult Create(Sample model) { if(!ModelState.IsValid) { return View(); } return RedirectToAction("Display"); } public ActionResult Display() { Sample model = new Sample(); model.Age = 10; model.CardNumber = "1324234"; model.Email = "[email protected]"; model.Title = "hahah"; return View(model); } } } Model: using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations; namespace MvcApplication3.Models { public class Sample { [Required] public string Title { get; set; } [Required] public string Email { get; set; } [Required] [Range(4, 120, ErrorMessage = "Oi! Common!")] public short Age { get; set; } [Required] public string CardNumber { get; set; } } } And 3 views: Create: @model MvcApplication3.Models.Sample @{ ViewBag.Title = "Create"; Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml"; } <h2>Create</h2> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script> @*@{ Html.EnableClientValidation(); }*@ @using (Html.BeginForm()) { @Html.ValidationSummary(false) <fieldset> <legend>Sample</legend> <div class="editor-label"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Title) </div> <div class="editor-field"> @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Title) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Title) </div> <div class="editor-label"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Email) </div> <div class="editor-field"> @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Email) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Email) </div> <div class="editor-label"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.Age) </div> <div class="editor-field"> @Html.EditorFor(model => model.Age) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.Age) </div> <div class="editor-label"> @Html.LabelFor(model => model.CardNumber) </div> <div class="editor-field"> @Html.EditorFor(model => model.CardNumber) @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.CardNumber) </div> <p> <input type="submit" value="Create" /> </p> </fieldset> @*<fieldset> @Html.EditorForModel() <p> <input type="submit" value="Create" /> </p> </fieldset> *@ } <div> @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index") </div> Display: @model MvcApplication3.Models.Sample @{ ViewBag.Title = "Display"; Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml"; } <h2>Display</h2> <fieldset> <legend>Sample</legend> <div class="display-label">Title</div> <div class="display-field">@Model.Title</div> <div class="display-label">Email</div> <div class="display-field">@Model.Email</div> <div class="display-label">Age</div> <div class="display-field">@Model.Age</div> <div class="display-label">CardNumber</div> <div class="display-field">@Model.CardNumber</div> </fieldset> <p> @Html.ActionLink("Back to List", "Index") </p> Index: @{ ViewBag.Title = "Index"; Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml"; } <h2>Index</h2> <p> @Html.ActionLink("Create", "Create") </p> <p> @Html.ActionLink("Display", "Display") </p> Everything is default here – Create Controller, AddView from controller action with model specified with proper scaffold template and using provided layout in sample application. When I will go to /Test/Create client validation in most cases works only for Title and Age fields, after clicking Create it works for all fields (create does not goes to server). However in some cases (after a build) Title validation is not working and Email is, or CardNumber or Title and CardNumber but Email is not. But never all validation is working before clicking Create. I’ve tried creating form with Html.EditorForModel as well as enforce client validation just before BeginForm: @{ Html.EnableClientValidation(); } I’m providing a source code for this sample on dropbox – as maybe our dev env is broken :/ I’ve done tests on IE 8 and Chrome 10 beta. Just in case, in web config validation scripts are enabled: <appSettings> <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true"/> <add key="UnobtrusiveJavaScriptEnabled" value="true"/> </appSettings> So my questions are Is there a way to ensure that Client validation will work as it supposed to work and not intermittently? Is this a desired behavior and I'm missing something in configuration/implementation?

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Form File Upload with other TextBox Inputs + Creating Custom Form Action attribute

- by Jonathan Stowell

Hi All, I am attempting to create a form where a user is able to enter your typical form values textboxes etc, but also upload a file as part of the form submission. This is my View code it can be seen that the File upload is identified by the MCF id: <% using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "Problem", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "ProblemForm", enctype = "multipart/form-data" })) {%> <p> <label for="StudentEmail">Student Email (*)</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextBox("StudentEmail", Model.Problem.StudentEmail, new { size = "30", maxlength=26 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("StudentEmail", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Type">Communication Type (*)</label> <br /> <%= Html.DropDownList("Type") %> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("Type", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="ProblemDateTime">Problem Date (*)</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextBox("ProblemDateTime", String.Format("{0:d}", Model.Problem.ProblemDateTime), new { maxlength = 10 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("ProblemDateTime", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="ProblemCategory">Problem Category (* OR Problem Outline)</label> <br /> <%= Html.DropDownList("ProblemCategory", null, "Please Select...")%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("ProblemCategory", "*")%> </p> <p> <label for="ProblemOutline">Problem Outline (* OR Problem Category)</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextArea("ProblemOutline", Model.Problem.ProblemOutline, 6, 75, new { maxlength = 255 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("ProblemOutline", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="MCF">Mitigating Circumstance Form</label> <br /> <input id="MCF" type="file" /> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("MCF", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="MCL">Mitigating Circumstance Level</label> <br /> <%= Html.DropDownList("MCL") %> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("MCL", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="AbsentFrom">Date Absent From</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextBox("AbsentFrom", String.Format("{0:d}", Model.Problem.AbsentFrom), new { maxlength = 10 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("AbsentFrom", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="AbsentUntil">Date Absent Until</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextBox("AbsentUntil", String.Format("{0:d}", Model.Problem.AbsentUntil), new { maxlength = 10 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("AbsentUntil", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="AssessmentID">Assessment Extension</label> <br /> <%= Html.DropDownList("AssessmentID") %> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("AssessmentID", "*") %> <%= Html.TextBox("DateUntil", String.Format("{0:d}", Model.AssessmentExtension.DateUntil), new { maxlength = 16 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("DateUntil", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Details">Assessment Extension Details</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextArea("Details", Model.AssessmentExtension.Details, 6, 75, new { maxlength = 255 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("Details", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="RequestedFollowUp">Requested Follow Up</label> <br /> <%= Html.TextBox("RequestedFollowUp", String.Format("{0:d}", Model.Problem.RequestedFollowUp), new { maxlength = 16 })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("RequestedFollowUp", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="StaffEmail">Staff</label> <br /> <%= Html.ListBox("StaffEmail", Model.StaffEmail, new { @class = "multiselect" })%> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("StaffEmail", "*")%> </p> <p> <input class="button" type="submit" value="Create Problem" /> </p> This is my controller code: [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)] public ActionResult Create(Problem problem, AssessmentExtension assessmentExtension, Staff staffMember, HttpPostedFileBase file, string[] StaffEmail) { if (ModelState.IsValid) { try { Student student = studentRepository.GetStudent(problem.StudentEmail); Staff currentUserStaffMember = staffRepository.GetStaffWindowsLogon(User.Identity.Name); var fileName = Path.Combine(Request.MapPath("~/App_Data"), Path.GetFileName(file.FileName)); file.SaveAs(@"C:\Temp\" + fileName); if (problem.RequestedFollowUp.HasValue) { String meetingName = student.FirstName + " " + student.LastName + " " + "Mitigating Circumstance Meeting"; OutlookAppointment outlookAppointment = new OutlookAppointment(currentUserStaffMember.Email, meetingName, (DateTime)problem.RequestedFollowUp, (DateTime)problem.RequestedFollowUp.Value.AddMinutes(30)); } problemRepository.Add(problem); problemRepository.Save(); if (assessmentExtension.DateUntil != null) { assessmentExtension.ProblemID = problem.ProblemID; assessmentExtensionRepository.Add(assessmentExtension); assessmentExtensionRepository.Save(); } ProblemPrivacy problemPrivacy = new ProblemPrivacy(); problemPrivacy.ProblemID = problem.ProblemID; problemPrivacy.StaffEmail = currentUserStaffMember.Email; problemPrivacyRepository.Add(problemPrivacy); if (StaffEmail != null) { for (int i = 0; i < StaffEmail.Length; i++) { ProblemPrivacy probPrivacy = new ProblemPrivacy(); probPrivacy.ProblemID = problem.ProblemID; probPrivacy.StaffEmail = StaffEmail[i]; problemPrivacyRepository.Add(probPrivacy); } } problemPrivacyRepository.Save(); return RedirectToAction("Details", "Student", new { id = student.Email }); } catch { ModelState.AddRuleViolations(problem.GetRuleViolations()); } } return View(new ProblemFormViewModel(problem, assessmentExtension, staffMember)); } This form was working correctly before I had to switch to using a non-AJAX file upload, this was due to an issue with Flash when enabling Windows Authentication which I need to use. It appears that when I submit the form the file is not sent and I am unsure as to why? I have also been unsuccessful in finding an example online where a file upload is used in conjunction with other input types. Another query I have is that for Create, and Edit operations I have used a PartialView for my forms to make my application have higher code reuse. The form action is normally generated by just using: Html.BeginForm() And this populates the action depending on which Url is being used Edit or Create. However when populating HTML attributes you have to provide a action and controller value to pass HTML attributes. using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "Problem", FormMethod.Post, new { id = "ProblemForm", enctype = "multipart/form-data" })) Is it possible to somehow populate the action and controller value depending on the URL to maintain code reuse? Thinking about it whilst typing this I could set two values in the original controller action request view data and then just populate the value using the viewdata values? Any help on these two issues would be appreciated, I'm new to asp.net mvc :-) Thanks, Jon

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MVC 3 ModelView passing parameters between view & controller

- by Tobias Vandenbempt

I've been playing with MVC 3 in a test project and have the following issue. I have Group & Subscriber entities and those are coupled through a SubscriberGroup table. Using the DetailView of Group I open a view of SubscriberGroup containing all subscribers. This list has the option to filter. So far it all works, however when I call the AddToGroup method on the controller it fails. Specifically it goes into the method but doesn't pass the subscriberCheckedModels list. Am I doing something wrong? View: SubscriberGroup Index.aspx <%@ Page Title="" Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/Views/Shared/Site.master" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<Mail.Models.SubscriberCheckedListViewModel>" %> … <h2 class="common-box-title"> Add Subscribers to Group</h2> <p> <% using (Html.BeginForm("Index", "SubscriberGroup")) { %> <input name="filter" id="filter" type="text" /> <input type="submit" value="Search" /> <%} %> </p> <% using (Html.BeginForm("AddToGroup", "SubscriberGroup", Model,FormMethod.Get, null)) { %> <fieldset> <div style="display: inline-block; width: 70%; vertical-align: top;"> <% if (Model.subscribers.Count() != 0) { %> <table class="hor-minimalist-b"> <tr> <th> Add To Group </th> <th> Full Name </th> <th> Email </th> <th> Customer </th> </tr> <% foreach (var item in Model.subscribers) { %> <tr> <td> <%= Html.CheckBoxFor(modelItem => item.AddToGroup)%> </td> <td> <%= Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.subscriber.LastName)%> <%= Html.ActionLink(item.subscriber.FirstName + " " + item.subscriber.LastName, "Details", new { id = item.subscriber.SubscriberID })%> </td> <td> <%: Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.subscriber.Email)%> </td> <td> <%: Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.subscriber.Customer.Company)%> <%= Html.HiddenFor(modelItem => item.subscriber) %> </td> </tr> <% } %> <% ViewBag.subscribers = Model.subscribers; %> probeersel <%= Html.HiddenFor(model => model.subscribers) %> probeersel </table> <%} %> <%else { %> <p> No subscribers found.</p> <%} %> <input type="submit" value="Add Subscribers" /> </div> </fieldset> <%} %> Controller: SubscriberGroupController using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Web; using System.Web.Mvc; using System.Web.Security; using Mail.Models; namespace Mail.Controllers { public class SubscriberGroupController : Controller { private int groupID; private MailDBEntities db = new MailDBEntities(); // // GET: /SubscriberGroup/ public ActionResult Index(int id) { groupID = id; MembershipUser myObject = Membership.GetUser(); Guid UserID = Guid.Parse(myObject.ProviderUserKey.ToString()); UserCustomer usercustomer = db.UserCustomers.Single(s => s.UserID == UserID); var subscribers = from subscriber in db.Subscribers where (subscriber.CustomerID == usercustomer.CustomerID) | (subscriber.CustomerID == 0) select new SubscriberCheckedModel { subscriber = subscriber, AddToGroup = false }; SubscriberCheckedListViewModel test = new SubscriberCheckedListViewModel(); test.subscribers = subscribers; return View(test); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult Index(string filter) { MembershipUser myObject = Membership.GetUser(); Guid UserID = Guid.Parse(myObject.ProviderUserKey.ToString()); UserCustomer usercustomer = db.UserCustomers.Single(s => s.UserID == UserID); var subscribers2 = from subscriber in db.Subscribers where ((subscriber.FirstName.Contains(filter)|| subscriber.LastName.Contains(filter)) && (subscriber.CustomerID == usercustomer.CustomerID || subscriber.CustomerID == 0)) select new SubscriberCheckedModel { subscriber = subscriber, AddToGroup = false }; SubscriberCheckedListViewModel test = new SubscriberCheckedListViewModel(); test.subscribers = subscribers2.ToList(); return View(test); } [HttpPost] public ActionResult AddToGroup(SubscriberCheckedListViewModel test) { //test is null return RedirectToAction("Details", "Group", new { id = groupID }); } } } ViewModel: SubscriberGroupModel using System.Collections.Generic; using Mail; namespace Mail.Models { public class SubscriberCheckedModel { public Subscriber subscriber { get; set; } public bool AddToGroup { get; set; } } public class SubscriberCheckedListViewModel { public IEnumerable<SubscriberCheckedModel> subscribers { get; set; } } }

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Upload File to Windows Azure Blob in Chunks through ASP.NET MVC, JavaScript and HTML5

- by Shaun

Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/shaunxu/archive/2013/07/01/upload-file-to-windows-azure-blob-in-chunks-through-asp.net.aspxMany people are using Windows Azure Blob Storage to store their data in the cloud. Blob storage provides 99.9% availability with easy-to-use API through .NET SDK and HTTP REST. For example, we can store JavaScript files, images, documents in blob storage when we are building an ASP.NET web application on a Web Role in Windows Azure. Or we can store our VHD files in blob and mount it as a hard drive in our cloud service. If you are familiar with Windows Azure, you should know that there are two kinds of blob: page blob and block blob. The page blob is optimized for random read and write, which is very useful when you need to store VHD files. The block blob is optimized for sequential/chunk read and write, which has more common usage. Since we can upload block blob in blocks through BlockBlob.PutBlock, and them commit them as a whole blob with invoking the BlockBlob.PutBlockList, it is very powerful to upload large files, as we can upload blocks in parallel, and provide pause-resume feature. There are many documents, articles and blog posts described on how to upload a block blob. Most of them are focus on the server side, which means when you had received a big file, stream or binaries, how to upload them into blob storage in blocks through .NET SDK. But the problem is, how can we upload these large files from client side, for example, a browser. This questioned to me when I was working with a Chinese customer to help them build a network disk production on top of azure. The end users upload their files from the web portal, and then the files will be stored in blob storage from the Web Role. My goal is to find the best way to transform the file from client (end user’s machine) to the server (Web Role) through browser. In this post I will demonstrate and describe what I had done, to upload large file in chunks with high speed, and save them as blocks into Windows Azure Blob Storage. Traditional Upload, Works with Limitation The simplest way to implement this requirement is to create a web page with a form that contains a file input element and a submit button. 1: @using (Html.BeginForm("About", "Index", FormMethod.Post, new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" })) 2: { 3: <input type="file" name="file" /> 4: <input type="submit" value="upload" /> 5: } And then in the backend controller, we retrieve the whole content of this file and upload it in to the blob storage through .NET SDK. We can split the file in blocks and upload them in parallel and commit. The code had been well blogged in the community. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public ActionResult About(HttpPostedFileBase file) 3: { 4: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 5: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 6: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(file.FileName); 7: var blockDataList = new Dictionary<string, byte[]>(); 8: using (var stream = file.InputStream) 9: { 10: var blockSizeInKB = 1024; 11: var offset = 0; 12: var index = 0; 13: while (offset < stream.Length) 14: { 15: var readLength = Math.Min(1024 * blockSizeInKB, (int)stream.Length - offset); 16: var blockData = new byte[readLength]; 17: offset += stream.Read(blockData, 0, readLength); 18: blockDataList.Add(Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(index)), blockData); 19: 20: index++; 21: } 22: } 23: 24: Parallel.ForEach(blockDataList, (bi) => 25: { 26: blob.PutBlock(bi.Key, new MemoryStream(bi.Value), null); 27: }); 28: blob.PutBlockList(blockDataList.Select(b => b.Key).ToArray()); 29: 30: return RedirectToAction("About"); 31: } This works perfect if we selected an image, a music or a small video to upload. But if I selected a large file, let’s say a 6GB HD-movie, after upload for about few minutes the page will be shown as below and the upload will be terminated. In ASP.NET there is a limitation of request length and the maximized request length is defined in the web.config file. It’s a number which less than about 4GB. So if we want to upload a really big file, we cannot simply implement in this way. Also, in Windows Azure, a cloud service network load balancer will terminate the connection if exceed the timeout period. From my test the timeout looks like 2 - 3 minutes. Hence, when we need to upload a large file we cannot just use the basic HTML elements. Besides the limitation mentioned above, the simple HTML file upload cannot provide rich upload experience such as chunk upload, pause and pause-resume. So we need to find a better way to upload large file from the client to the server. Upload in Chunks through HTML5 and JavaScript In order to break those limitation mentioned above we will try to upload the large file in chunks. This takes some benefit to us such as - No request size limitation: Since we upload in chunks, we can define the request size for each chunks regardless how big the entire file is. - No timeout problem: The size of chunks are controlled by us, which means we should be able to make sure request for each chunk upload will not exceed the timeout period of both ASP.NET and Windows Azure load balancer. It was a big challenge to upload big file in chunks until we have HTML5. There are some new features and improvements introduced in HTML5 and we will use them to implement our solution. In HTML5, the File interface had been improved with a new method called “slice”. It can be used to read part of the file by specifying the start byte index and the end byte index. For example if the entire file was 1024 bytes, file.slice(512, 768) will read the part of this file from the 512nd byte to 768th byte, and return a new object of interface called "Blob”, which you can treat as an array of bytes. In fact, a Blob object represents a file-like object of immutable, raw data. The File interface is based on Blob, inheriting blob functionality and expanding it to support files on the user's system. For more information about the Blob please refer here. File and Blob is very useful to implement the chunk upload. We will use File interface to represent the file the user selected from the browser and then use File.slice to read the file in chunks in the size we wanted. For example, if we wanted to upload a 10MB file with 512KB chunks, then we can read it in 512KB blobs by using File.slice in a loop. Assuming we have a web page as below. User can select a file, an input box to specify the block size in KB and a button to start upload. 1: <div> 2: <input type="file" id="upload_files" name="files[]" /><br /> 3: Block Size: <input type="number" id="block_size" value="512" name="block_size" />KB<br /> 4: <input type="button" id="upload_button_blob" name="upload" value="upload (blob)" /> 5: </div> Then we can have the JavaScript function to upload the file in chunks when user clicked the button. 1: <script type="text/javascript"> 1: 2: $(function () { 3: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 4: }); 5: });</script> Firstly we need to ensure the client browser supports the interfaces we are going to use. Just try to invoke the File, Blob and FormData from the “window” object. If any of them is “undefined” the condition result will be “false” which means your browser doesn’t support these premium feature and it’s time for you to get your browser updated. FormData is another new feature we are going to use in the future. It could generate a temporary form for us. We will use this interface to create a form with chunk and associated metadata when invoked the service through ajax. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: if (window.File && window.Blob && window.FormData) { 4: alert("Your brwoser is awesome, let's rock!"); 5: } 6: else { 7: alert("Oh man plz update to a modern browser before try is cool stuff out."); 8: return; 9: } 10: }); Each browser supports these interfaces by their own implementation and currently the Blob, File and File.slice are supported by Chrome 21, FireFox 13, IE 10, Opera 12 and Safari 5.1 or higher. After that we worked on the files the user selected one by one since in HTML5, user can select multiple files in one file input box. 1: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 2: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 3: var file = files[i]; 4: var fileSize = file.size; 5: var fileName = file.name; 6: } Next, we calculated the start index and end index for each chunks based on the size the user specified from the browser. We put them into an array with the file name and the index, which will be used when we upload chunks into Windows Azure Blob Storage as blocks since we need to specify the target blob name and the block index. At the same time we will store the list of all indexes into another variant which will be used to commit blocks into blob in Azure Storage once all chunks had been uploaded successfully. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: 11: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 12: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 13: var blockSizeInKB = $("#block_size").val(); 14: var blockSize = blockSizeInKB * 1024; 15: var blocks = []; 16: var offset = 0; 17: var index = 0; 18: var list = ""; 19: while (offset < fileSize) { 20: var start = offset; 21: var end = Math.min(offset + blockSize, fileSize); 22: 23: blocks.push({ 24: name: fileName, 25: index: index, 26: start: start, 27: end: end 28: }); 29: list += index + ","; 30: 31: offset = end; 32: index++; 33: } 34: } 35: }); Now we have all chunks’ information ready. The next step should be upload them one by one to the server side, and at the server side when received a chunk it will upload as a block into Blob Storage, and finally commit them with the index list through BlockBlobClient.PutBlockList. But since all these invokes are ajax calling, which means not synchronized call. So we need to introduce a new JavaScript library to help us coordinate the asynchronize operation, which named “async.js”. You can download this JavaScript library here, and you can find the document here. I will not explain this library too much in this post. We will put all procedures we want to execute as a function array, and pass into the proper function defined in async.js to let it help us to control the execution sequence, in series or in parallel. Hence we will define an array and put the function for chunk upload into this array. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: 5: // start to upload each files in chunks 6: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 7: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 8: var file = files[i]; 9: var fileSize = file.size; 10: var fileName = file.name; 11: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 12: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 13: ... ... 14: 15: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 16: blocks.forEach(function (block) { 17: putBlocks.push(function (callback) { 18: }); 19: }); 20: } 21: }); 22: }); As you can see, I used File.slice method to read each chunks based on the start and end byte index we calculated previously, and constructed a temporary HTML form with the file name, chunk index and chunk data through another new feature in HTML5 named FormData. Then post this form to the backend server through jQuery.ajax. This is the key part of our solution. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: blocks.forEach(function (block) { 15: putBlocks.push(function (callback) { 16: // load blob based on the start and end index for each chunks 17: var blob = file.slice(block.start, block.end); 18: // put the file name, index and blob into a temporary from 19: var fd = new FormData(); 20: fd.append("name", block.name); 21: fd.append("index", block.index); 22: fd.append("file", blob); 23: // post the form to backend service (asp.net mvc controller action) 24: $.ajax({ 25: url: "/Home/UploadInFormData", 26: data: fd, 27: processData: false, 28: contentType: "multipart/form-data", 29: type: "POST", 30: success: function (result) { 31: if (!result.success) { 32: alert(result.error); 33: } 34: callback(null, block.index); 35: } 36: }); 37: }); 38: }); 39: } 40: }); Then we will invoke these functions one by one by using the async.js. And once all functions had been executed successfully I invoked another ajax call to the backend service to commit all these chunks (blocks) as the blob in Windows Azure Storage. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: ... ... 15: // invoke the functions one by one 16: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 17: async.series(putBlocks, function (error, result) { 18: var data = { 19: name: fileName, 20: list: list 21: }; 22: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 23: if (!result.success) { 24: alert(result.error); 25: } 26: else { 27: alert("done!"); 28: } 29: }); 30: }); 31: } 32: }); That’s all in the client side. The outline of our logic would be - Calculate the start and end byte index for each chunks based on the block size. - Defined the functions of reading the chunk form file and upload the content to the backend service through ajax. - Execute the functions defined in previous step with “async.js”. - Commit the chunks by invoking the backend service in Windows Azure Storage finally. Save Chunks as Blocks into Blob Storage In above we finished the client size JavaScript code. It uploaded the file in chunks to the backend service which we are going to implement in this step. We will use ASP.NET MVC as our backend service, and it will receive the chunks, upload into Windows Azure Bob Storage in blocks, then finally commit as one blob. As in the client side we uploaded chunks by invoking the ajax call to the URL "/Home/UploadInFormData", I created a new action under the Index controller and it only accepts HTTP POST request. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public JsonResult UploadInFormData() 3: { 4: var error = string.Empty; 5: try 6: { 7: } 8: catch (Exception e) 9: { 10: error = e.ToString(); 11: } 12: 13: return new JsonResult() 14: { 15: Data = new 16: { 17: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 18: error = error 19: } 20: }; 21: } Then I retrieved the file name, index and the chunk content from the Request.Form object, which was passed from our client side. And then, used the Windows Azure SDK to create a blob container (in this case we will use the container named “test”.) and create a blob reference with the blob name (same as the file name). Then uploaded the chunk as a block of this blob with the index, since in Blob Storage each block must have an index (ID) associated with so that finally we can put all blocks as one blob by specifying their block ID list. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public JsonResult UploadInFormData() 3: { 4: var error = string.Empty; 5: try 6: { 7: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 8: var index = int.Parse(Request.Form["index"]); 9: var file = Request.Files[0]; 10: var id = Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(index)); 11: 12: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 13: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 14: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 15: blob.PutBlock(id, file.InputStream, null); 16: } 17: catch (Exception e) 18: { 19: error = e.ToString(); 20: } 21: 22: return new JsonResult() 23: { 24: Data = new 25: { 26: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 27: error = error 28: } 29: }; 30: } Next, I created another action to commit the blocks into blob once all chunks had been uploaded. Similarly, I retrieved the blob name from the Request.Form. I also retrieved the chunks ID list, which is the block ID list from the Request.Form in a string format, split them as a list, then invoked the BlockBlob.PutBlockList method. After that our blob will be shown in the container and ready to be download. 1: [HttpPost] 2: public JsonResult Commit() 3: { 4: var error = string.Empty; 5: try 6: { 7: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 8: var list = Request.Form["list"]; 9: var ids = list 10: .Split(',') 11: .Where(id => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id)) 12: .Select(id => Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(int.Parse(id)))) 13: .ToArray(); 14: 15: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 16: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 17: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 18: blob.PutBlockList(ids); 19: } 20: catch (Exception e) 21: { 22: error = e.ToString(); 23: } 24: 25: return new JsonResult() 26: { 27: Data = new 28: { 29: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 30: error = error 31: } 32: }; 33: } Now we finished all code we need. The whole process of uploading would be like this below. Below is the full client side JavaScript code. 1: <script type="text/javascript" src="~/Scripts/async.js"></script> 2: <script type="text/javascript"> 3: $(function () { 4: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 5: // assert the browser support html5 6: if (window.File && window.Blob && window.FormData) { 7: alert("Your brwoser is awesome, let's rock!"); 8: } 9: else { 10: alert("Oh man plz update to a modern browser before try is cool stuff out."); 11: return; 12: } 13: 14: // start to upload each files in chunks 15: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 16: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 17: var file = files[i]; 18: var fileSize = file.size; 19: var fileName = file.name; 20: 21: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 22: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 23: var blockSizeInKB = $("#block_size").val(); 24: var blockSize = blockSizeInKB * 1024; 25: var blocks = []; 26: var offset = 0; 27: var index = 0; 28: var list = ""; 29: while (offset < fileSize) { 30: var start = offset; 31: var end = Math.min(offset + blockSize, fileSize); 32: 33: blocks.push({ 34: name: fileName, 35: index: index, 36: start: start, 37: end: end 38: }); 39: list += index + ","; 40: 41: offset = end; 42: index++; 43: } 44: 45: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 46: var putBlocks = []; 47: blocks.forEach(function (block) { 48: putBlocks.push(function (callback) { 49: // load blob based on the start and end index for each chunks 50: var blob = file.slice(block.start, block.end); 51: // put the file name, index and blob into a temporary from 52: var fd = new FormData(); 53: fd.append("name", block.name); 54: fd.append("index", block.index); 55: fd.append("file", blob); 56: // post the form to backend service (asp.net mvc controller action) 57: $.ajax({ 58: url: "/Home/UploadInFormData", 59: data: fd, 60: processData: false, 61: contentType: "multipart/form-data", 62: type: "POST", 63: success: function (result) { 64: if (!result.success) { 65: alert(result.error); 66: } 67: callback(null, block.index); 68: } 69: }); 70: }); 71: }); 72: 73: // invoke the functions one by one 74: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 75: async.series(putBlocks, function (error, result) { 76: var data = { 77: name: fileName, 78: list: list 79: }; 80: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 81: if (!result.success) { 82: alert(result.error); 83: } 84: else { 85: alert("done!"); 86: } 87: }); 88: }); 89: } 90: }); 91: }); 92: </script> And below is the full ASP.NET MVC controller code. 1: public class HomeController : Controller 2: { 3: private CloudStorageAccount _account; 4: private CloudBlobClient _client; 5: 6: public HomeController() 7: : base() 8: { 9: _account = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(CloudConfigurationManager.GetSetting("DataConnectionString")); 10: _client = _account.CreateCloudBlobClient(); 11: } 12: 13: public ActionResult Index() 14: { 15: ViewBag.Message = "Modify this template to jump-start your ASP.NET MVC application."; 16: 17: return View(); 18: } 19: 20: [HttpPost] 21: public JsonResult UploadInFormData() 22: { 23: var error = string.Empty; 24: try 25: { 26: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 27: var index = int.Parse(Request.Form["index"]); 28: var file = Request.Files[0]; 29: var id = Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(index)); 30: 31: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 32: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 33: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 34: blob.PutBlock(id, file.InputStream, null); 35: } 36: catch (Exception e) 37: { 38: error = e.ToString(); 39: } 40: 41: return new JsonResult() 42: { 43: Data = new 44: { 45: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 46: error = error 47: } 48: }; 49: } 50: 51: [HttpPost] 52: public JsonResult Commit() 53: { 54: var error = string.Empty; 55: try 56: { 57: var name = Request.Form["name"]; 58: var list = Request.Form["list"]; 59: var ids = list 60: .Split(',') 61: .Where(id => !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(id)) 62: .Select(id => Convert.ToBase64String(BitConverter.GetBytes(int.Parse(id)))) 63: .ToArray(); 64: 65: var container = _client.GetContainerReference("test"); 66: container.CreateIfNotExists(); 67: var blob = container.GetBlockBlobReference(name); 68: blob.PutBlockList(ids); 69: } 70: catch (Exception e) 71: { 72: error = e.ToString(); 73: } 74: 75: return new JsonResult() 76: { 77: Data = new 78: { 79: success = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(error), 80: error = error 81: } 82: }; 83: } 84: } And if we selected a file from the browser we will see our application will upload chunks in the size we specified to the server through ajax call in background, and then commit all chunks in one blob. Then we can find the blob in our Windows Azure Blob Storage. Optimized by Parallel Upload In previous example we just uploaded our file in chunks. This solved the problem that ASP.NET MVC request content size limitation as well as the Windows Azure load balancer timeout. But it might introduce the performance problem since we uploaded chunks in sequence. In order to improve the upload performance we could modify our client side code a bit to make the upload operation invoked in parallel. The good news is that, “async.js” library provides the parallel execution function. If you remembered the code we invoke the service to upload chunks, it utilized “async.series” which means all functions will be executed in sequence. Now we will change this code to “async.parallel”. This will invoke all functions in parallel. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: ... ... 15: // invoke the functions one by one 16: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 17: async.parallel(putBlocks, function (error, result) { 18: var data = { 19: name: fileName, 20: list: list 21: }; 22: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 23: if (!result.success) { 24: alert(result.error); 25: } 26: else { 27: alert("done!"); 28: } 29: }); 30: }); 31: } 32: }); In this way all chunks will be uploaded to the server side at the same time to maximize the bandwidth usage. This should work if the file was not very large and the chunk size was not very small. But for large file this might introduce another problem that too many ajax calls are sent to the server at the same time. So the best solution should be, upload the chunks in parallel with maximum concurrency limitation. The code below specified the concurrency limitation to 4, which means at the most only 4 ajax calls could be invoked at the same time. 1: $("#upload_button_blob").click(function () { 2: // assert the browser support html5 3: ... ... 4: // start to upload each files in chunks 5: var files = $("#upload_files")[0].files; 6: for (var i = 0; i < files.length; i++) { 7: var file = files[i]; 8: var fileSize = file.size; 9: var fileName = file.name; 10: // calculate the start and end byte index for each blocks(chunks) 11: // with the index, file name and index list for future using 12: ... ... 13: // define the function array and push all chunk upload operation into this array 14: ... ... 15: // invoke the functions one by one 16: // then invoke the commit ajax call to put blocks into blob in azure storage 17: async.parallelLimit(putBlocks, 4, function (error, result) { 18: var data = { 19: name: fileName, 20: list: list 21: }; 22: $.post("/Home/Commit", data, function (result) { 23: if (!result.success) { 24: alert(result.error); 25: } 26: else { 27: alert("done!"); 28: } 29: }); 30: }); 31: } 32: }); Summary In this post we discussed how to upload files in chunks to the backend service and then upload them into Windows Azure Blob Storage in blocks. We focused on the frontend side and leverage three new feature introduced in HTML 5 which are - File.slice: Read part of the file by specifying the start and end byte index. - Blob: File-like interface which contains the part of the file content. - FormData: Temporary form element that we can pass the chunk alone with some metadata to the backend service. Then we discussed the performance consideration of chunk uploading. Sequence upload cannot provide maximized upload speed, but the unlimited parallel upload might crash the browser and server if too many chunks. So we finally came up with the solution to upload chunks in parallel with the concurrency limitation. We also demonstrated how to utilize “async.js” JavaScript library to help us control the asynchronize call and the parallel limitation. Regarding the chunk size and the parallel limitation value there is no “best” value. You need to test vary composition and find out the best one for your particular scenario. It depends on the local bandwidth, client machine cores and the server side (Windows Azure Cloud Service Virtual Machine) cores, memory and bandwidth. Below is one of my performance test result. The client machine was Windows 8 IE 10 with 4 cores. I was using Microsoft Cooperation Network. The web site was hosted on Windows Azure China North data center (in Beijing) with one small web role (1.7GB 1 core CPU, 1.75GB memory with 100Mbps bandwidth). The test cases were - Chunk size: 512KB, 1MB, 2MB, 4MB. - Upload Mode: Sequence, parallel (unlimited), parallel with limit (4 threads, 8 threads). - Chunk Format: base64 string, binaries. - Target file: 100MB. - Each case was tested 3 times. Below is the test result chart. Some thoughts, but not guidance or best practice: - Parallel gets better performance than series. - No significant performance improvement between parallel 4 threads and 8 threads. - Transform with binaries provides better performance than base64. - In all cases, chunk size in 1MB - 2MB gets better performance. Hope this helps, Shaun All documents and related graphics, codes are provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. Copyright © Shaun Ziyan Xu. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.

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