Question

I have discovered what appears to be a bug using MVC 3 with the RemoteAttibute and the ActionNameSelectorAttribute.

I have implemented a solution to support multiple submit buttons on the same view similar to this post: http://blog.ashmind.com/2010/03/15/multiple-submit-buttons-with-asp-net-mvc-final-solution/

The solution works however, when I introduce the RemoteAttribute in my model, the controllerContext.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request no longer contains any of my submit buttons which causes the the “multi-submit-button” solution to fail.

Has anyone else experienced this scenario?

Answer 1

The problem manifests itself when the RemoteAttribute is used on a model in a view where mutliple submit buttons are used. Regardless of what “multi-button” solution you use, the POST no longer contains any submit inputs.

I managed to solve the problem with a few tweeks to the ActionMethodSelectorAttribute and the addition of a hidden view field and some javascript to help wire up the pieces.

ViewModel

public class NomineeViewModel
    {
        [Remote("UserAlreadyRegistered", "Nominee", AdditionalFields="Version", ErrorMessage="This Username is already registered with the agency.")]
        public string UserName { get; set; }

        public int Version {get; set;}
        public string SubmitButtonName{ get; set; }
    }

ActionMethodSelectorAttribute

public class OnlyIfPostedFromButtonAttribute : ActionMethodSelectorAttribute
    {
        public String SubmitButton { get; set; }
        public String ViewModelSubmitButton { get; set; }

        public override Boolean IsValidForRequest(ControllerContext controllerContext, MethodInfo methodInfo)
        {
            var buttonName = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request[SubmitButton];
            if (buttonName == null)
            {
                //This is neccessary to support the RemoteAttribute that appears to intercepted the form post
                //and removes the submit button from the Request (normally detected in the code above)
                var viewModelSubmitButton = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request[ViewModelSubmitButton];
                if ((viewModelSubmitButton == null) || (viewModelSubmitButton != SubmitButton))
                    return false;
            }

            // Modify the requested action to the name of the method the attribute is attached to
            controllerContext.RouteData.Values["action"] = methodInfo.Name;
            return true;
        }
    }

View

<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
    $(function () {
        $("input[type=submit][data-action]").click(function (e) {
            var action = $(this).attr('data-action');
            $("#SubmitButtonName").val(action);
        });
    });
</script>

    <% using (Html.BeginForm())
       {%>
        <p>
            <%= Html.LabelFor(m => m.UserName)%>
            <%= Html.DisplayFor(m => m.UserName)%>
        </p>

        <input type="submit" name="editNominee" value="Edit" data-action="editNominee" />
        <input type="submit" name="sendActivationEmail" value="SendActivationEmail" data-action="sendActivationEmail" />
        <%=Html.HiddenFor(m=>m.SubmitButtonName) %>
<% } %>

Controller

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
[ActionName("Details")]
[OnlyIfPostedFromButton(SubmitButton = "editNominee", ViewModelSubmitButton = "SubmitButtonName")]
public ActionResult DetailsEditNominee(NomineeViewModel nom)
{
    return RedirectToAction("Edit", "Nominee", new { id = nom.UserName });
}

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
[ActionName("Details")]
[OnlyIfPostedFromButton(SubmitButton = "sendActivationEmail", ViewModelSubmitButton = "SubmitButtonName")]
public ActionResult DetailsSendActivationEmail(NomineeViewModel nom)
{
    return RedirectToAction("SendActivationEmail", "Nominee", new { id = nom.UserName });
}

[OutputCache(Location = OutputCacheLocation.None, NoStore = true)]
public ActionResult UserAlreadyRegistered(string UserName, int Version)
{
    //Only validate this property for new records (i.e. Version != zero)
    return Version != 0 ? Json(true, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet) 
                              : Json(! nomineeService.UserNameAlreadyRegistered(CurrentLogonDetails.TaxAgentId, UserName), JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}