nested model does not bind properly on batch mode submit

[Software]

I have a nested ViewModel structure, with a custom editor on the grid that can edit the List of 'Items' on the QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentViewModel.

Here is the ViewModel:

public class AssignedQuestionViewModel

{

    public int QuestionTemplateId { get; set; }

    public int QuestionGroupTemplateId { get; set; }

    public string QuestionText { get; set; }

    public bool Required { get; set; }

    public string RequiredCheckedString { get; set; }

    public QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentViewModel LifeCycle { get; set; }

}

 

public class QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentViewModel

{

    public List<QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentItemViewModel> Items { get; set; }

    public string SelectedLifeCycleCsvList { get; set; }

}

 

public class QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentItemViewModel

{

    public string LifeCycleDescription { get; set; }

    public int LifeCycleId { get; set; }

    public bool Assigned { get; set; }

    public string LifeCycleAbbreviation { get; set; }

 

}

Here is the View:

@(Html.Kendo().Grid<AssignedQuestionViewModel>()

      .Name("Questions_#=QuestionGroupTemplateId#")

      .Columns(columns =>

                   {

                       columns.Bound(i => i.QuestionTemplateId).Hidden();

                       columns.Bound(i => i.QuestionGroupTemplateId).Hidden();

                       columns.Bound(i => i.Required);

                       columns.Bound(i => i.QuestionText);

                       columns.Bound(i => i.LifeCycle).ClientTemplate("\\#=LifeCycle.SelectedLifeCycleCsvList\\#");

                   }

      )

      .ToolBar(toolBar => toolBar.Save())

      .Editable(editable => editable.Mode(GridEditMode.InCell))

      .DataSource(dataSource => dataSource

                                    .Ajax()

                                    .Batch(true)

                                    .ServerOperation(false)

                                    .Model(model =>

                                               {

                                                   model.Id(m => m.QuestionTemplateId);

                                                   model.Field(m => m.QuestionTemplateId).Editable(false);

                                                   model.Field(m => m.QuestionGroupTemplateId).Editable(false);

                                                   model.Field(m => m.QuestionText).Editable(false);

                                               })

                                    .Read(read => read.Action("ReadAssignedQuestions", "QuestionManagement", new { p = "#=QuestionGroupTemplateId#"})

                                                      .Type(HttpVerbs.Post)                                                         

                                    )

                                    .Update(update => update.Action("SaveAssignedQuestions", "QuestionManagement"))

      )

      .Events(e => e.Edit("testEvent"))

      .ToClientTemplate()

      )

Here is the Controller:

[HttpPost]

  [HandleJsonException]

  public ActionResult SaveAssignedQuestions([DataSourceRequest] DataSourceRequest request, [Bind(Prefix = "models")] IEnumerable<AssignedQuestionViewModel> models)

  {

      var result = _questionManagementHelper.SaveQuestionAssignmentEdits(models);

      return Json(GetJsonResponse(result, "An error occurred saving assigned question edits."));

  }

Breaking in the controller, copied from the Watch window:

-       LifeCycle   {Esurety.Core.ViewModels.QuestionManagement.QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentViewModel}   Esurety.Core.ViewModels.QuestionManagement.QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentViewModel

-       Items   Count = 6   System.Collections.Generic.List<Esurety.Core.ViewModels.QuestionManagement.QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentItemViewModel>

-       [0] {Esurety.Core.ViewModels.QuestionManagement.QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentItemViewModel}   Esurety.Core.ViewModels.QuestionManagement.QuestionLifeCycleAssignmentItemViewModel

        Assigned    false   bool

        LifeCycleAbbreviation   null    string

        LifeCycleDescription    null    string

        LifeCycleId 0   int

It is kind of hard to read, but you can see that the List of Items has 6 Items, which is a property of LifeCycle, which is a property of the top-level AssignedQuestionViewModel.  Everything is correct (the count of items is correct), except the Items have no values (you can see the nulls and 0 for the ID, and Assigned is always false even when it isn't supposed to be).  When I inspect in fiddler, using the WebForms tab, the data is correct, so it is being submitted, it is the binding that is not working correctly.  Here is from Fiddler WebForms:

group
filter
models[0].QuestionTemplateId	1
models[0].QuestionGroupTemplateId	1
models[0].QuestionText	First Name
models[0].Required	true
models[0].RequiredCheckedString	checked
models[0].LifeCycle.Items[0][LifeCycleDescription]	Bond Application
models[0].LifeCycle.Items[0][LifeCycleId]	1
models[0].LifeCycle.Items[0][Assigned]	true
models[0].LifeCycle.Items[0][LifeCycleAbbreviation]	Nb

And here is the TextView:

sort=&group=&filter=&models%5B0%5D.QuestionTemplateId=1&models%5B0%5D.QuestionGroupTemplateId=1&models%5B0%5D.QuestionText=First+Name&models%5B0%5D.Required=true&models%5B0%5D.RequiredCheckedString=checked&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B0%5D%5BLifeCycleDescription%5D=Bond+Application&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B0%5D%5BLifeCycleId%5D=1&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B0%5D%5BAssigned%5D=true&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B0%5D%5BLifeCycleAbbreviation%5D=Nb&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B1%5D%5BLifeCycleDescription%5D=Renewal&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B1%5D%5BLifeCycleId%5D=2&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B1%5D%5BAssigned%5D=true&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B1%5D%5BLifeCycleAbbreviation%5D=Rw&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B2%5D%5BLifeCycleDescription%5D=Cancellation&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B2%5D%5BLifeCycleId%5D=4&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B2%5D%5BAssigned%5D=false&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B2%5D%5BLifeCycleAbbreviation%5D=Cn&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B3%5D%5BLifeCycleDescription%5D=Reinstatement&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B3%5D%5BLifeCycleId%5D=6&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B3%5D%5BAssigned%5D=false&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B3%5D%5BLifeCycleAbbreviation%5D=Ri&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B4%5D%5BLifeCycleDescription%5D=NonPBR&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B4%5D%5BLifeCycleId%5D=7&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B4%5D%5BAssigned%5D=false&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B4%5D%5BLifeCycleAbbreviation%5D=Np&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B5%5D%5BLifeCycleDescription%5D=PBR&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B5%5D%5BLifeCycleId%5D=8&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B5%5D%5BAssigned%5D=false&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.Items%5B5%5D%5BLifeCycleAbbreviation%5D=Pb&models%5B0%5D.LifeCycle.SelectedLifeCycleCsvList=Nb%2CRw

Thanks!
Danny

[Daniel]

Hello Danny,

Currently we do not serialize nested arrays if a format that will be processed by the model binder. We will improve the serialization for future versions so that it supports this scenario. For now I can suggest to use the Update request Data function to convert the data in the correct format("collectionPropertyName[index].propertyName"). From the snippet you shared it seems that the code should be as below:

function convert(data) {
    var models = data.models;
    for (var i = 0; i < models.length; i++) {
        var items = models[i].LifeCycle.Items;
        if (items) {
            for (var j = 0; j < items.length; j++) {
                for (var property in items[j]) {
                    models[i]["LifeCycle.Items[" + j + "]." + property] = items[j][property];
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Regards,
Daniel
the Telerik team