Question

In an ASP.NET MVC application, I’m making logic for Admin to accept or reject new members. I’m showing a list of members and two buttons Accept and Reject, like this:

<% foreach (var mm in (ViewData['pendingmembers'] as List<MyMember>)) %> <% { %>    <tr><td>Username:<%=mm.UserName %></td><td>    <tr><td>Firstname:<%=mm.FirstName %></td><td>    ...etc...    <tr>       <td>       <% using (Html.BeginForm('AcceptPendingUser', 'Admin'))       { %>           <input type='submit' value='Accept' />       <% } %>       </td>       <td>       <% using (Html.BeginForm('RejectPendingUser', 'Admin'))       { %>         <input type='submit' value='Reject' />       <% } %>       </td>     </tr> <% } %> 

So, the list of pending member data is in a list of MyMember-objects. Each MyMember object will be printed out member and two buttons are setup for the admin to either accept or reject a pending member.

Then, in the controller I’m separating the handling of those two input fields/forms, like this:

public ActionResult AcceptPendingUser() {    // TODO: Add code to save user into DB and send welcome email.    return RedirectToAction('Index'); }  public ActionResult RejectPendingUser() {    // TODO: Add code to remove user from PendingUsers list and send rejection email.    return RedirectToAction('Index'); } 

I would like to directly get the object next to the button the user pressed. How can I send the MyMember object from the View to the controller? Or how do I send perhaps a numeric index with button press? Maybe with a hidden field?

Answer 1

The simplest option would probably be a hidden input:

<input type='hidden' value='<%=mm.Key%>' name='key' id='key' /> 

(name accordingly; in each form)

The two controller would then take an argument called ‘key’ (rename to suit). If you want to parse the object from multiple inputs, you’ll need a ModelBinder. Of course, rather than 2*n forms, you might consider either query-string based urls, or use something like jQuery (or some other script helper) to submit the data without needing the forms (if script is available).