Question

So here is the problem i’m running into.

Originally, I was populating the recipient field with a select list of users that one would have friended first.

That didn’t seem user friendly enough to me. So, I started working on an autocomplete with jQuery. The autocomplete works like a charm.

The issue i’m running into is when I send the message, my modelstate isn’t valid as the Message. The recipient only has the username filled in.

Should I get rid of the validation and manually fill all these fields?
Or can I do something smarter with this issue?

<div class="label">@Html.LabelFor(model => model.Receiver.UserName)</div>
<div class="fullinput">@Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Receiver.UserName)</div><br />

<div class="label">@Html.LabelFor(model => model.Subject)</div>
<div class="fullinput">@Html.TextBoxFor(model => model.Subject)</div><br />

<div class="label">@Html.LabelFor(model => model.Content)</div>
<div class="fullinput">@Html.TextAreaFor(model => model.Content)</div><br />

That is the html I’m using.

$("#Receiver_UserName").autocomplete({ 
            source: function (request, response) {
                $.ajax({
                    url: "/Function/FindUsers", // Or your controller
                    dataType: "json",
                    data: { usr: request.term },
                    success: function (data) {
                        // Returned data follows the Spellword model
                        response($.map(data, function (item) {
                            return {
                                id: item.Id,
                                label: item.UserName,
                                value: item.UserName
                            }
                        }))
                    }
                });
            },

This is the autocomplete call:

[HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Send(Message message)
    {
        User user = entities.Users.SingleOrDefault(u => u.UserName.Equals(User.Identity.Name));
        //ViewData["Friends"] = new SelectList(user.Friends, "Id", "Name");

        if (ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            entities.Messages.Add(message);
            entities.SaveChanges();

            return RedirectToAction("Index");
        }
        return View(message);
    }

There I check for the validation, and it’s always invalid which makes sense, I guess.

public class Message
{
    [Key]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Subject is required")]
    [Display(Name = "Subject")]
    public string Subject { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Message is required")]
    [Display(Name = "Message")]
    public string Content { get; set; }

    [Required]
    [Display(Name = "Date")]
    public DateTime Created { get; set; }

    public Boolean Read { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Can't create a message without a user")]
    public int SenderId { get; set; }
    public virtual User Sender { get; set; }

    [Required(ErrorMessage = "Please pick a recipient")]
    public int ReceiverId { get; set; }
    public virtual User Receiver { get; set; }
}

And finally the Message Model.
Obviously i don’t have fields for all of these so this is why the modelstate is crying at me.

I’m wondering if i can just skip checking modelstate in this case or if i should fix this in a nicer way.

Answer 1

I Solved the issue like this

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Send(Message message)
{
    User user = entities.Users.SingleOrDefault(u => u.UserName.Equals(User.Identity.Name));
    User recipient = entities.Users.SingleOrDefault(u => u.UserName.Equals(message.Receiver.UserName));
    ModelState.Clear();

    if (recipient != null && user != null)
    {
        message.Sender = user;
        message.SenderId = user.Id;
        message.Receiver = recipient;
        message.ReceiverId = recipient.Id;
        message.Created = DateTime.Now;

        entities.Messages.Add(message);
        entities.SaveChanges();

        return RedirectToAction("Index");
    }
    else
    {
        return View(message);
    }
}

But i’m not very happy with the solution as it circumvents my entire validation process