Passing object parameters to ajax select method

[rino]

I have a View that contains input controls for a search function and Telerik grid for the search result. I am trying to pass an object to ajax select method (instead of an integer as described in this thead) when it is invoked (e.g. to sort).

Here is a snippet of my view. SearchScholar is a class.

<div class="editor-field">

<%: Html.TextBox("searchCriteria.FirstName", null, new { tabindex = "1" })%>

</div>

  

<!--additional code removed -->

  

<%= Html.Telerik().Grid(Model)

.Name("Search")

 .DataBinding(databinding =>

{

databinding.Ajax()
                      .Select("SearchAjax", "Scholar", 
                                  new {searchCriteria = (ScholarSearch)ViewData["searchCriteria"]})
                      .Enabled((bool)ViewData["ajaxEnabled"]);

 })               
.Sortable()

            %>

The controller looks like this

public ActionResult Search(ScholarSearch searchCriteria)
{
ViewData["searchCriteria"] = searchCriteria;
//code
return View(result)
}

[GridAction]
public ActionResult SearchAjax(ScholarSearch searchCriteria)
{
//code
return View(new GridModel(searchResult));
}

When SearchAjax is called, the parameter searchCriteria is always null.