MVC 3 Get result from partial view into model

Question

I'm sure this is easy, but maybe I haven't searched well ...

I want to know how to get results from a partial view back to the model and/or controller.

If the user enters a FirstName, Gender (from drop down) and Grade (from drop down), I only find then FirstName and Gender in the model. I want to know how to get the Grade from the drop down in the partial view all the way back into the model, so I can see it in the controller.

Please look for this question in the controller code:

What do I need to do to get the GradeLevel from the partial class to be here: <<<<<

Note: this is not the exact code. There may be small, insignificant typo's.

EDIT: Apparently you can't add a long comment, so I will add here:

Thank you, Tom and Mystere Man. Tom got me thinking as to why it doesn't work. I didn't think through the model binding. With the design I proposed, the HTML gets rendered and the Grade drop down has this id: "Grade". The property on the model I want to bind to is: "GradeLevelID". If I change the helper in the partial view to be @Html.DropDownList("GradeLevelID" ... it works perfectly.

But that is not a good solution. My idea was to abstract the partial view from the main view. Hard coding the name blows that! I did work up a slightly improved solution. In the main view, I change the @Html.Partial statement to pass the model property name to the partial. Like such:

@Html.Partial("GradeDropDown", (SelectList)Model.GradeSelectList, new ViewDataDictionary { { "modelPropertyName", "GradeLevelID" } })

Then I could change the partial view to say

@model System.Web.Mvc.SelectList
@Html.DropDownList((string)ViewData["modelPropertyName"], Model)

But that also seems like a goofy way to approach things. Thanks for the help. I'll look at EditorTemplates.

---

Here is my model:

public class RegisterModel{

    public MemberRegistration MemberRegistration{
        get{
            if (HttpContext.Current.Session["MemberRegistration"] == null){
                return null;
            }
            return (MemberRegistration)HttpContext.Current.Session["MemberRegistration"];

        }

        set{
            HttpContext.Current.Session["MemberRegistration"] = value;
        }

    }

    public string FirstName{
        get{
            return MemberRegistration.FirstName;
        }
        set{
            MemberRegistration.FirstName = value;
        }
    }

    public SelectList GenderSelectList{
        get{

            List<object> tempList = new List<object>();

            tempList.Add(new { Value = "", Text = "" });
            tempList.Add(new { Value = "M", Text = "Male" });
            tempList.Add(new { Value = "F", Text = "Female" });

            return new SelectList(tempList, "value", "text", MemberRegistration.Gender);
        }
    }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Gender is required")]
    public string Gender{
        get{
            return MemberRegistration.MemberPerson.Gender;
        }
        set{
            MemberRegistration.MemberPerson.Gender = value;
        }
    }

    public SelectList GradeLevelSelectList{
        get{
            List<object> tempList = new List<object>();

            tempList.Add(new { Value = "", Text = "" });
            tempList.Add(new { Value = "1", Text = "1st" });
            tempList.Add(new { Value = "2", Text = "2nd" });
            tempList.Add(new { Value = "3", Text = "3rd" });
            tempList.Add(new { Value = "4", Text = "4th" });

            return new SelectList(tempList, "value", "text", MemberRegistration.GradeLevel);
        }
    }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Grade is required")]
    public Int32 GradeLevel{
        get{
            return MemberRegistration.GradeLevel;
        }
        set{
            MemberRegistration.GradeLevel = value;
        }
    }
}

---

Here is my main view:

@model RegisterModel

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
   <p class="DataPrompt">
        <span class="BasicLabel">First Name:</span>
        <br />
        @Html.EditorFor(x => x.FirstName)
    </p>

    <p class="DataPrompt">
        <span class="BasicLabel">Gender:</span>
        <br />
        @Html.DropDownListFor(x => x.Gender, Model.GenderSelectList)
    </p>

    <p class="DataPrompt">
        <span class="BasicLabel">Grade:</span><span class="Required">*</span>
        <br />
        @Html.Partial("GradeDropDown", (SelectList)Model.GradeLevelSelectList)
    </p>

    <p class="DataPrompt">
        <input type="submit" name="button" value="Next" />
    </p>

}

---

Here is my partial view (named "GradeDropDown"):

@model System.Web.Mvc.SelectList

@Html.DropDownList("Grade", Model)

---

Here is my controller:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult PlayerInfo(RegisterModel model)
{
    string FirstName = model.Registration.FirstName;
    string Gender = model.Registration.Gender;

    >>>>> What do I need to do to get the GradeLevel from the partial class to be here: <<<<<
    Int32 GradeLevel = model.Registration.GradeLevel;           

    return RedirectToAction("Waivers");
}

Answer 1

try this to get the correct naming for the elements when they get posted.

On your main view

 @Html.Partial("GradeDropDown", Model) //Pass the Model to the partial view

Here is your partial view (named "GradeDropDown"):

 @model RegisterModel

   @Html.DropDownList("Grade", (SelectList)Model.GradeLevelSelectList)

Answer 2

I don't even know why you are using a partial view. All you're doing is using one helper method, you could replace the partial view with the helper method in the view and it would be less code.

Second, you should be using Html.DropDownListFor() instead of Html.DropDownList(), then it will correctly name the html controls for you.

Just do this:

<p class="DataPrompt"> 
    <span class="BasicLabel">Grade:</span><span class="Required">*</span> 
    <br /> 
    @Html.DropDownListFor(m => m.GradeLevel, (SelectList)Model.GradeLevelSelectList) 
</p>