Question

In my MVC program, once the user has submitted an edit form, those values for the object get saved in the model server-side, but the previous values show up in the view.

I know it has to do with MVC’s validation process, where it first checks ModelState before the server side values. The solution I’ve read across the forums is to clear the ModelState. The only problem is, ModelState.Clear isn’t working for me.

Help please.

Model

public class Help
    {
        [HiddenInput(DisplayValue=true)]
        public int HelpID { get; set; }

        [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please enter a proper URL")]
        public string URL { get; set; }

        [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please enter a content description:")]
        [DataType(DataType.MultilineText)]
        public string HelpContent { get; set; }

        /*? 2 properites are nullable*/
        public DateTime? createDateTime { get; set; }
        public DateTime? modifiedDateTime { get; set; }        
    }

Controller

/*Create the admin controller*/
    public class AdminController : Controller
    {
        //declare interface object
        private IHelpRepository repository;

        /*Pass a db interface to controller*/
        public AdminController(IHelpRepository repo)
        {
            repository = repo;
        }

        /*default admin screen. displays help table obs*/
        public ViewResult Index()
        {            
            return View();
        }

        /*Returns add view form*/
        public ActionResult AddForm()
        {            
            return PartialView();            
        }

        /*Will handle the post for the add screen after user has
        submitted add information*/
        [HttpPost]
        [ValidateInput(false)] //this allows admin to place html in field
        public ActionResult AddForm(Help help)
        {           
            if (ModelState.IsValid) //if all fields are validated
            {                
                //set the edit date
                help.createDateTime = DateTime.Now;
                repository.SaveHelp(help);                
                return (null); //return "null" to div so control is given back to main view
            }
            else //there is something wrong. send back to view            
            {
                return PartialView(help);
            }
        }

        /*Returns edit view form, searches for object to edit with id
         if no id provided, 0 by default*/
        public ActionResult EditForm(int helpID = 0)
        {
            Help help = repository.Help.FirstOrDefault(q => q.HelpID == helpID);
            help.HelpContent = System.Web.HttpUtility.HtmlDecode(help.HelpContent);

            return PartialView(help);
        }

        /*Will handle the post for the edit screen after user has
        submitted edit information*/
        [HttpPost]
        [ValidateInput(false)] //this allows admin to place html in field
        public ActionResult EditForm(Help help)
        {



            if (ModelState.IsValid) //if all fields are validated
            {
                //set the edit date
                help.modifiedDateTime = DateTime.Now;
                repository.SaveHelp(help);
                ModelState.Clear();
                return (null); //return "null" to div so control is given back to main view
            }
            else //there is something wrong. send back to view            
            {

                return PartialView(help);
            }
        }

        /*Delete action method, searches with id*/
        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult Delete(int helpId)
        {
            Help helpDel = repository.Help.FirstOrDefault(p => p.HelpID == helpId);
            if (helpDel != null) //if the object is found, delete
            {
                repository.DeleteHelp(helpDel);
            }

            //in all cases return to index
            return RedirectToAction("Index");
        }

        /*Used by the telerik table to rebind grid*/
        [GridAction]
        public ActionResult AjaxBinding()
        {
            return View(new GridModel(repository.Help));
        }
    }//end admin controller class`

Partial View (Gets loaded into a div)
`

@using (Html.BeginForm(null, null, FormMethod.Post, new { id = "Editx" }))
{
    @Html.ValidationSummary(true)
    <fieldset>
        <legend>Edit Entry</legend>
        @Html.HiddenFor(model => model.HelpID)
        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.URL)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
           @Html.EditorFor(model => model.URL)
           @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.URL)
        </div>
        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.HelpContent, "Help Content")            
        </div>
         <div class="editor-field">
       @{
    Html.Telerik().EditorFor(content => content.HelpContent)
      .Name("HelpContent")
        .FileBrowser(settings => settings
          .Browse("Browse", "ImageBrowser")
          .Thumbnail("Thumbnail", "ImageBrowser")
          .Upload("Upload", "ImageBrowser")
          .DeleteFile("DeleteFile", "ImageBrowser")
          .DeleteDirectory("DeleteDirectory", "ImageBrowser")
          .CreateDirectory("CreateDirectory", "ImageBrowser")
      )
      .Render();
        }
        @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.HelpContent)
        </div>

        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.createDateTime, "Create Date")
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.EditorFor(model => model.createDateTime)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.createDateTime)
        </div>

        <div class="editor-label">
            @Html.LabelFor(model => model.modifiedDateTime, "Modified Date")
        </div>
        <div class="editor-field">
            @Html.EditorFor(model => model.modifiedDateTime)
            @Html.ValidationMessageFor(model => model.modifiedDateTime)
        </div>
        <p>
            <input id="btnEdit" type="submit" value="Save" />
            <button id="btnCancel">Cancel</button>
        </p>
    </fieldset>
    }

Answer 1

After trolling through about a hundred links, I found the solution to my problem. ModelState.Clear actually clears the objects values in the controller, but for whatever reason was still displaying the old values in the view. Maybe its because I load/unload my edit form into a div tag? Don’t ask. I don’t know. The solution that works for me is this:

$.ajax({ 
url: "somecontroller/someAction,
cache: false, // this is key to make sure JQUERY does not cache your request
success: function( data ) {
alert( data ); } }); 

I had to set the “cache” setting to “false”.

Thanks to @minus4 for the solution, bruh.