Question

jqGrid takes the following JSON format:

{ 
  "total": "5", 
  "page": "2", 
  "records": "55",
  "rows" : [
    {"id" :"21", "cell" :["cell11", "cell12", "cell13"]},
    {"id" :"22", "cell" :["cell21", "cell22", "cell23"]},
      ...
    {"id" :"30", "cell" :["cell31", "cell32", "cell33"]},
  ]
}

I’m trying to make a method as reusable as possible to pass data back through AJAX to the jqGrid.

var result = new
{
    total = (int) Math.Ceiling((double) totalCount/PageSize),
    page = PageIndex,
    records = totalCount,
    rows = data.Select((d, id) => new {id, cell = d.SerializeGridParameters()}).ToArray()
};

As you can see, currently I managed to add the index without extra effort, but I’m having trouble with the field data.

So far, I managed to deal with it by using an interface:

public interface IGridParameterListable
{
    List<string> SerializeGridParameters();
}

For my data (which is an IEnumerable<T> where T : IGridParameterListable).
Thing is I’d much rather have a generic method that just blindly converts objects property values to a List<string>..

Doesn’t sound too cute, I know, I’m open to other ideas.
I want to avoid as much as possible repeating the data structure for a grid on both the client and server sides.

Answer 1

This might be a better option.

public string SerializeQuery<T>(IQueryable<T> query, Func<T, List<string>> select)
{
    // stuff ...

    var result = new
    {
        total = (int)Math.Ceiling((double)totalCount / PageSize),
        page = PageIndex,
        records = totalCount,
        rows = data.Select((d, id) => new { id, cell = select(d) }).ToArray()
    };

    // stuff ...
}

I eliminate the need of an interface, and move the conversion to the implementation of the query for each particular grid. In this example:

[WebMethod]
[ScriptMethod]
    public string GetData(GridSettings grid)
    {
        var query = new FakeComputersRepository().Computers();
        var response = grid.SerializeQuery(query, d => new List<string>
        {
            d.ID.ToString(),
            d.IsOnline.ToString(),
            d.Name,
            d.IP,
            d.User
        });

        return response;
    }

A tad better, I think.
Any other ideas, to further expand on this?