Question

I’m writing my app using Asp.Net MVC 3. In my controller I have two action methods with the very same code apart from one line. Here it is:

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult EditPost(Post post)
    {
        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            _postsRepository.UpdatePost(post);
            return RedirectToAction("NewsFeed");
        }
        return View("EditPost", post);
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult AddPost(Post post)
    {
        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            _postsRepository.UpdatePost(post);
            return RedirectToAction("NewsFeed");
        }
        return View("AddPost", post); // the return view is different 
    }

So, I want to withdraw all this code into helper method.

What I’ve already tried:

1) I tried to put all the code into helper method and pass as parameters ModelState.IsValid and View name. And then in AddPost and EditPost I call this helper method instead of code listed above. Here is the new code:

    [HttpPost] // also tried without this attribute
    public ActionResult HelperPost(Post post, string viewName, bool modelState)
    {
        if (modelState)
        {
            _postsRepository.UpdatePost(post);
            return RedirectToAction("NewsFeed");
        }
        return View(viewName, post);
    }

    [HttpPost] // also tried without this attribute
    public void AddPost(Post post)
    {
        HelperPost(post, "AddPost", ModelState.IsValid);
    }

The EditPost code is almost the same. The view name is “EditPost”.

When I run the app and AddPost method executes the validation works and the new post is created but this line never executes:

return RedirectToAction("NewsFeed");

So I’m redirected to “AddPost” view again and again.

2) Also tried to redirect to HelperPost method instead of calling it withing AddPost and EditPost. The result is still the same: seems like RedirectToAction(“NewsFeed”) doesn’t execute. (Here I neglected the validation just to simplify the example, cause I would have to create new model with properties: Post post, string viewName, bool modelState). The code:

[HttpPost] // tried without attribute
public void AddPost(Post post)
{
   return RedirectToAction("HelperPost", post);
}

[HttpPost] // tried without attribute
public RedirectToRouteResult HelperUpdatePost(Post post)
{
    _postsRepository.UpdatePost(post);
    return RedirectToAction("NewsFeed");
}

So, How could I refactor my code so my action methods (EditPost and AddPost) would not contain the same chunk of code?

p.s. I need different views for AddPost and EditPost methods cause the “back to content” links in them are different. So, I can’t just redirect to the EditPost view from AddPost method.

Thanks for help in advance!

Answer 1

Just put your “back to content” link in the model, then use the same view for both, then you can use the same HttpPost method. Saves having to duplicate everything.