Question

when a submit button is clicked i want to generate a pop up showing the list of items. The code i tried to create pop up is as follows:`

Index View:

<script type="text/javascript">
$('#popUp').Hide();
$('#button').click(function () {
    $('#popUp').click();
});
</script>

<div class="left-panel-bar">
@using (Html.BeginForm(FormMethod.Post))
{
        <p>Search For: &nbsp;</p>
        @Html.TextBox("companyName",Model);
        <input id="button" type="submit" value="Submit" />
}
</div>

<div id="popUp">
    @Html.ActionLink("Get Company List", "CreateDialog", "Company", null, new 
    { 
        @class = "openDialog", 
        data_dialog_id = "emailDialog", 
        data_dialog_title = "Get Company List" 
    });
</div>

but i got trouble using this code.. when i click the submit button it opens another page instead of popup. The controller code is as follows:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Index(Companies c)
{
    Queries q1 = new Queries(c.companyName); 
    if (Request.IsAjaxRequest())
        return PartialView("_CreateDialog", q1);
    else
        return View("CreateDialog", q1);
}

Answer 1

You could use AJAX:

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function() {
        $('form').submit(function() {
            $.ajax({
                url: this.action,
                type: this.method,
                data: $(this).serialize(),
                success: function(result) {
                    $('#popUp').html(result);
                }
            });
            return false;
        });
    });
</script>

<div class="left-panel-bar">
    @using (Html.BeginForm())
    {
        <p>Search For: &nbsp;</p>
        @Html.TextBox("companyName", Model);
        <input id="button" type="submit" value="Submit" />
    }
</div>

<div id="popUp">
</div>

Now ehn the form is submitted, an AJAX request will be sent to the Index POST action and since inside you test if the request was an AJAX request it will return the _CreateDialog.cshtml partial view and insert it into the #popUp div. Also it is important to return false from the form submit handler in order to cancel the default even which is to redirect the browser away from the current page.