How do I pass a Dictionary as a parameter to an ActionResult method from jQuery/Ajax?

Question

I\'m using jQuery to make an Ajax call using an Http Post in ASP.NET MVC. I would like to be able to pass a Dictionary of values.

The closest thing I could think of

Answer 1

DefaultModelBinder is able to bind your POST to array or dictionary. For example:

for arrays:

public ActionResult AddItems(string[] values)

$.post("/Controller/AddItems", { values: "values[0]=200&values[1]=300" },
    function(data) { }, "json");

or:

$.post("/Controller/AddItems", { values: "values=200&values=300" },
    function(data) { }, "json");

for dictionaries:

public ActionResult AddItems(Dictionary values)

$.post("/Controller/AddItems", {
    values: "values[0].Key=value0&values[0].Value=200&values[1].Key=value1&values[1].Value=300" }, function(data) { }, "json");

UPDATED:

If your values are in HTML inputs then in jQuery you can do something like this:

var postData = $('input#id1, input#id2, ..., input#idN").serialize();
// or
var postData = $('input.classOfYourInputs").serialize();

$.post("/Controller/AddItems", { values: postData }, function(data) { }, "json");

UPDATED:

Also check this: Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen.com - ASP.NET Wire Format for Model Binding to Arrays, Lists, Collections, Dictionaries