Question

I try to use the Kendo UI Autocomplete tool with a C# datasource.
It seems very easy in PHP:

    <?php
        include("connection.php");

    $arr = array();

    $stmt = $db->prepare("SELECT StateID, StateName FROM USStates WHERE StateName LIKE ?");

    // get the StartsWith value and append a % wildcard on the end
    if ($stmt->execute(array($_GET["StartsWith"]. "%"))) {
        while ($row = $stmt->fetch()) {
            $arr[] = $row;    
        }
    }

    // add the header line to specify that the content type is JSON
    header("Content-type: application/json");

    echo "{\"data\":" .json_encode($arr). "}";
?>

But I want to use a CSHtml file or something equivalent, do you have any idea on how to accomplish this?

I don’t want to create a controller attached with a model, etc… If it’s possible to make it with only one page, it would be great.

Answer 1

If you are using MVC Create a controller like so….

public class DataController : Controller
{
    public JsonResult GetStates()
    {
        var data = GetData();
        return Json(new
        {
            data = data.Select(r => new
            {
                StateId = r.ID,
                StateName = r.Name
            })
        });
    }
 }

Then all you have to do is set the datasource url to /data/GetStates

If you are using webforms I would create a generic handler or a webservice (depending on how many functions you need)

public class LoadStates : IHttpHandler
{

    public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
    {
        JavaScriptSerializer json = new JavaScriptSerializer();
        var data = GetData();
        context.Response.ContentType = "application/json";
        context.Response.Write(json.Serialize(new
        {
            data = data.Select(r => new
            {
                StateId = r.ID,
                StateName = r.Name
            })
        }));
    }

    public bool IsReusable
    {
        get
        {
            return false;
        }
    }
}

For completness sake.. here is how you would pull off the same using a ashx webservice

[WebService(Namespace = "http://tempuri.org/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
[System.ComponentModel.ToolboxItem(false)]
public class WebService1 : System.Web.Services.WebService
{
    [WebMethod, ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]
    public string HelloWorld()
    {
        var data = GetData();
        return new
        {
            data = data.Select(r => new
            {
                StateId = r.ID,
                StateName = r.Name
            })
        };
    }
}