How do you handle multiple submit buttons in ASP.NET MVC Framework?

Question

Is there some easy way to handle multiple submit buttons from the same form? For example:

<% Html.BeginForm(\"MyAction\", \"MyController\", FormMethod.Pos         


        

Answer 1

Give your submit buttons a name, and then inspect the submitted value in your controller method:

<% Html.BeginForm("MyAction", "MyController", FormMethod.Post); %>
<input type="submit" name="submitButton" value="Send" />
<input type="submit" name="submitButton" value="Cancel" />
<% Html.EndForm(); %>

posting to

public class MyController : Controller {
    public ActionResult MyAction(string submitButton) {
        switch(submitButton) {
            case "Send":
                // delegate sending to another controller action
                return(Send());
            case "Cancel":
                // call another action to perform the cancellation
                return(Cancel());
            default:
                // If they've submitted the form without a submitButton, 
                // just return the view again.
                return(View());
        }
    }

    private ActionResult Cancel() {
        // process the cancellation request here.
        return(View("Cancelled"));
    }

    private ActionResult Send() {
        // perform the actual send operation here.
        return(View("SendConfirmed"));
    }

}

EDIT:

To extend this approach to work with localized sites, isolate your messages somewhere else (e.g. compiling a resource file to a strongly-typed resource class)

Then modify the code so it works like:

<% Html.BeginForm("MyAction", "MyController", FormMethod.Post); %>
<input type="submit" name="submitButton" value="<%= Html.Encode(Resources.Messages.Send)%>" />
<input type="submit" name="submitButton" value="<%=Html.Encode(Resources.Messages.Cancel)%>" />
<% Html.EndForm(); %>

and your controller should look like this:

// Note that the localized resources aren't constants, so 
// we can't use a switch statement.

if (submitButton == Resources.Messages.Send) { 
    // delegate sending to another controller action
    return(Send());

} else if (submitButton == Resources.Messages.Cancel) {
     // call another action to perform the cancellation
     return(Cancel());
}

Answer 2

My JQuery approach using an extension method:

public static MvcHtmlString SubmitButtonFor<TController>(this HtmlHelper helper, Expression<Action<TController>> action, string value) where TController : Controller
{
    RouteValueDictionary routingValues = Microsoft.Web.Mvc.Internal.ExpressionHelper.GetRouteValuesFromExpression(action);

    var onclick = string.Format("$('form').first().attr('action', '/{0}')", string.Join("/", routingValues.Values.ToArray().Where(x => x != null).Select(x => x.ToString()).ToArray()));
    var html = "<input type=\"submit\" value=\"" + value + "\" onclick=\"" + onclick + "\" />";

    return MvcHtmlString.Create(html);
}

You can use it like this:

@(Html.SubmitButtonFor<FooController>(c => c.Save(null), "Save"))

And it renders like this:

<input type="submit" value="Save" onclick="$('form').first().attr('action', '/Foo/Save')" >

Answer 3

This is the technique I'd use and I don't see it here yet. The link (posted by Saajid Ismail ) that inspires this solution is http://weblogs.asp.net/dfindley/archive/2009/05/31/asp-net-mvc-multiple-buttons-in-the-same-form.aspx). It adapts Dylan Beattie's answer to do localization without any problems.

In the View:

<% Html.BeginForm("MyAction", "MyController", FormMethod.Post); %>
<button name="button" value="send"><%: Resources.Messages.Send %></button>
<button name="button" value="cancel"><%: Resources.Messages.Cancel %></button>
<% Html.EndForm(); %>

In the Controller:

public class MyController : Controller 
{
    public ActionResult MyAction(string button)
    {
         switch(button)
         {
             case "send":
                 this.DoSend();
                 break;
             case "cancel":
                 this.DoCancel();
                 break;
         }
    }
}

Answer 4

You can check the name in the action as has been mentioned, but you might consider whether or not this is good design. It is a good idea to consider the responsibility of the action and not couple this design too much to UI aspects like button names. So consider using 2 forms and 2 actions:

<% Html.BeginForm("Send", "MyController", FormMethod.Post); %>
<input type="submit" name="button" value="Send" />
<% Html.EndForm(); %>

<% Html.BeginForm("Cancel", "MyController", FormMethod.Post); %>
<input type="submit" name="button" value="Cancel" />
<% Html.EndForm(); %>

Also, in the case of "Cancel", you are usually just not processing the form and are going to a new URL. In this case you do not need to submit the form at all and just need a link:

<%=Html.ActionLink("Cancel", "List", "MyController") %>

Answer 5

You should be able to name the buttons and give them a value; then map this name as an argument to the action. Alternatively, use 2 separate action-links or 2 forms.

Answer 6

I'm pretty late to the party, but here goes... My implementation borrows from @mkozicki but requires less hardcoded strings to get wrong. Framework 4.5+ required. Essentially, the controller method name should be the key to the routing.

Markup. The button name must be keyed with "action:[controllerMethodName]"

(notice the use of the C#6 nameof API, providing type-specific reference to the name of the controller method you wish to invoke.

<form>
    ... form fields ....
    <button name="action:@nameof(MyApp.Controllers.MyController.FundDeathStar)" type="submit" formmethod="post">Fund Death Star</button>
    <button name="action:@nameof(MyApp.Controllers.MyController.HireBoba)" type="submit" formmethod="post">Hire Boba Fett</button>
</form>

Controller:

namespace MyApp.Controllers
{
    class MyController
    {    
        [SubmitActionToThisMethod]
        public async Task<ActionResult> FundDeathStar(ImperialModel model)
        {
            await TrainStormTroopers();
            return View();
        }

        [SubmitActionToThisMethod]
        public async Task<ActionResult> HireBoba(ImperialModel model)
        {
            await RepairSlave1();
            return View();
        }
    }
}

Attribute Magic. Notice the use of CallerMemberName goodness.

[AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.Method, AllowMultiple = false, Inherited = true)]
public class SubmitActionToThisMethodAttribute : ActionNameSelectorAttribute
{        
    public SubmitActionToThisMethodAttribute([CallerMemberName]string ControllerMethodName = "")
    {
        controllerMethod = ControllerMethodName;
        actionFormat = string.Concat(actionConstant, ":", controllerMethod);
    }
    const string actionConstant = "action";
    readonly string actionFormat;
    readonly string controllerMethod;

    public override bool IsValidName(ControllerContext controllerContext, string actionName, MethodInfo methodInfo)
    {
        var isValidName = false;
        var value = controllerContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue(actionFormat);

        if (value != null)
        {
            controllerContext.Controller.ControllerContext.RouteData.Values[actionConstant] = controllerMethod;
            isValidName = true;
        }
        return isValidName;
    }
}