Question

I am looking for a simple way to make a piece of text, which happens to be a number, on my view update in near-real-time.

I have a piece of text in my view that looks like this:

<% if (ViewData["TotalRecords"] != null)
   { %>
<%= ViewData["TotalRecords"].ToString() + 
                    " records available to search."%>
<% } %><br />

I want ViewData["TotalRecords"] to be a constantly updating value, every 60 seconds or so.

The query underneath is:

public static string GetTotalRecords()
        {
            DataContext dc = new DataContext();
            return dc.Records.Count().ToString("#,##0");
        }

How can I make this into some kind of Ajax-enabled dynamic piece of text?

Answer 1

Move that part to separate action

public ActionResult TotalRecords()
{
   var totalRecords = GetTotalRecords();
   return PartialView(totalRecords);
}

In parent view, initially render that action with

<div id="totalRecords">
     @Html.RenderAction("TotalRecords")`
</div>

And script with setInterval to reload TotalRecords action every 60 seconds

<script>

$(function(){
     setInterval("reloadTotalRecords", 60 * 1000);
});

function reloadTotalRecords()
{
    $('#totalRecords').load('@Url.Action("TotalRecords")');
}

</script>