ASP.NET MVC - How to Preserve ModelState Errors Ac

Question

I have the following two action methods (simplified for question):

[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Create(string uniqueUri)
{
   // get some stuff based on uniqueuri, set in ViewData.  
   return View();
}

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(Review review)
{
   // validate review
   if (validatedOk)
   {
      return RedirectToAction("Details", new { postId = review.PostId});
   }  
   else
   {
      ModelState.AddModelError("ReviewErrors", "some error occured");
      return RedirectToAction("Create", new { uniqueUri = Request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["uniqueUri"]});
   }   
}

So, if the validation passes, i redirect to another page (confirmation).

If an error occurs, i need to display the same page with the error.

If i do return View(), the error is displayed, but if i do return RedirectToAction (as above), it loses the Model errors.

I'm not surprised by the issue, just wondering how you guys handle this?

I could of course just return the same View instead of the redirect, but i have logic in the "Create" method which populates the view data, which i'd have to duplicate.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Microsoft removed the ability to store complex data types in TempData, therefore the previous answers no longer work; you can only store simple types like strings. I have altered the answer by @asgeo1 to work as expected.

public class SetTempDataModelStateAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
    {
        base.OnActionExecuted(filterContext);

        var controller = filterContext.Controller as Controller;
        var modelState = controller?.ViewData.ModelState;
        if (modelState != null)
        {
            var listError = modelState.Where(x => x.Value.Errors.Any())
                .ToDictionary(m => m.Key, m => m.Value.Errors
                .Select(s => s.ErrorMessage)
                .FirstOrDefault(s => s != null));
            controller.TempData["KEY HERE"] = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(listError);
        }
    }

public class RestoreModelStateFromTempDataAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
        base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);

        var controller = filterContext.Controller as Controller;
        var tempData = controller?.TempData?.Keys;
        if (controller != null && tempData != null)
        {
            if (tempData.Contains("KEY HERE"))
            {
                var modelStateString = controller.TempData["KEY HERE"].ToString();
                var listError = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, string>>(modelStateString);
                var modelState = new ModelStateDictionary();
                foreach (var item in listError)
                {
                        modelState.AddModelError(item.Key, item.Value ?? "");
                }

                controller.ViewData.ModelState.Merge(modelState);
            }
        }
    }        
}
}

From here, you can simply add the required data annotation on a controller method as needed.

[RestoreModelStateFromTempDataAttribute]
    [HttpGet]
    public async Task<IActionResult> MethodName()
    {
    }

[SetTempDataModelStateAttribute]
    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<IActionResult> MethodName()
    {
            ModelState.AddModelError("KEY HERE", "ERROR HERE");
    }

Answer 2

I suggest you return the view, and avoid duplication via an attribute on the action. Here is an example of populating to view data. You could do something similar with your create method logic.

public class GetStuffBasedOnUniqueUriAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
        var filter = new GetStuffBasedOnUniqueUriFilter();

        filter.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
    }
}


public class GetStuffBasedOnUniqueUriFilter : IActionFilter
{
    #region IActionFilter Members

    public void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
    {

    }

    public void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
        filterContext.Controller.ViewData["somekey"] = filterContext.RouteData.Values["uniqueUri"];
    }

    #endregion
}

Here is an example:

[HttpGet, GetStuffBasedOnUniqueUri]
public ActionResult Create()
{
    return View();
}

[HttpPost, GetStuffBasedOnUniqueUri]
public ActionResult Create(Review review)
{
    // validate review
    if (validatedOk)
    {
        return RedirectToAction("Details", new { postId = review.PostId });
    }

    ModelState.AddModelError("ReviewErrors", "some error occured");
    return View(review);
}

Answer 3

I prefer to add a method to my ViewModel which populates the default values:

public class RegisterViewModel
{
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public IList<Gender> Genders { get; set; }
    //Some other properties here ....
    //...
    //...

    ViewModelType PopulateDefaultViewData()
    {
        this.FirstName = "No body";
        this.Genders = new List<Gender>()
        {
            Gender.Male,
            Gender.Female
        };

        //Maybe other assinments here for other properties...
    }
}

Then I call it when ever I need the original data like this:

    [HttpGet]
    public async Task<IActionResult> Register()
    {
        var vm = new RegisterViewModel().PopulateDefaultViewValues();
        return View(vm);
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public async Task<IActionResult> Register(RegisterViewModel vm)
    {
        if (!ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            return View(vm.PopulateDefaultViewValues());
        }

        var user = await userService.RegisterAsync(
            email: vm.Email,
            password: vm.Password,
            firstName: vm.FirstName,
            lastName: vm.LastName,
            gender: vm.Gender,
            birthdate: vm.Birthdate);

        return Json("Registered successfully!");
    }