Question

I’ve seen how I can serialize to an object in JSON. How can I POST a string which returns a ViewResult?

            $.ajax({
                url: url,
                dataType: 'html',
                data: $(this).val(), //$(this) is an html textarea
                type: 'POST',
                success: function (data) {
                    $("#report").html(data);
                },
                error: function (data) {
                    $("#report").html('An Error occured.  Invalid characters include \'<\'. Error: ' + data);
                }
            });

MVC

   [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult SomeReport(string input)
    {
        var model = new ReportBL();
        var report = model.Process(input);
        return View(report);
    }

Answer 1

How about:

        $.ajax({
            url: url,
            dataType: 'html',
            data: {input: $(this).val()}, //$(this) is an html textarea
            type: 'POST',
            success: function (data) {
                $("#report").html(data);
            },
            error: function (data) {
                $("#report").html('An Error occured.  Invalid characters include \'<\'. Error: ' + data);
            }
        });

If you make the data a JSON object with a key that matches the parameter name MVC should pick it up.

On the MVC side…

[HttpPost] 
public ActionResult SomeReport() 
{ 
    string input = Request["input"];
    var model = new ReportBL(); 
    var report = model.Process(input); 
    return View(report); 
}