What parameter should I pass to Editor.Process() when using json data

Jack Ting

Link to test case:
Debugger code (debug.datatables.net):
Error messages shown:
Description of problem:
1. I'm developing a c# asp.net core web api application.
2. I copy the StaffController and StaffModel from Editor-NETCore-2.0.8 and test it OK, with the defult 'Form' action.
3. But, I want to send an application/json request instead of multipart/form-data request.
4. I've read the discussion https://datatables.net/forums/discussion/55370/custom-insert-update-delete-method-for-editor. which is almost the same of my case.

The problem is when I do a POST api/staff with JSON data (shown below), it just return all the data just like a GET api/staff do.

{
"action":"edit",
   "data":{
      "DT_RowId": "row_60",
      "first_name": "test1",
      "last_name": "test2",
      "extn": "1564",
      "age": null,
      "salary": 95000.0,
      "start_date": "2022-06-10",
      "position": "test",
      "email": "",
      "office": "test"
   }
}

So, my question is what parameter should I passed to Editor.Process( ?? ) instead of Editor.Process( Request )

Jack Ting

Currently I leave the parameter of public ActionResult Staff() to be blank, should I filled something in it?
for example: public ActionResult Staff([FromBody] ?? request)

allan

Hi,

I don't actually think that is currently possible without transforming the JSON data in some way. There are a number of different overloads for Process but none of them would accept a JSON string / object.

Can I ask why you want to sent it as JSON in the body rather than form data?

Allan

Jack Ting

Can I ask why you want to sent it as JSON in the body rather than form data?

It's specification from a RPF owner.

From the following

    public class PostStaffModel {
        public string action { get; set; }
        public List<StaffModel> data { get; set; }
    }

and

[Route("api/staff")]
        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult PostStaff(PostStaffModel req) {

I get the req object correctly,
Is there still no way to processing this req object??

allan

No, I'm afraid not. What is really needed is to get the incoming data into a DtRequest object which is what the libraries use to access the submitted data.

If you can get your JSON as a IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, string>> then you could pass it through the HttpData method of that class to get the resulting object, and then use that with Editor.Process().

Allan

Jack Ting

I try to make use of IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, string>>, but still fail to get correct response.

the Model:

    public class PostModel<T> {
        public string action { get; set; }
        public T data { get; set; }
    }

the controller:

        [Route("api/staff")]
        [HttpPost]
        public ActionResult PostStaff(PostModel<StaffModel> req) {
            var request = myConvert(req);

and myConvert()

        private List<KeyValuePair<string, string>> myConvert(PostModel<StaffModel> req) {
            var jStr = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(req);
            var dObj = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<Dictionary<string, object>>(jStr);
            var oData = new List<KeyValuePair<string, string>>();
            if (dObj != null) {
                foreach (KeyValuePair<string, object> kv in dObj) {
                    oData.Add(new KeyValuePair<string, string>(kv.Key, kv.Value.ToString() ));
                }
            }
            return oData.ToList();
        }

in trouble is at line 259 of DtRequest.cs

private void _Build(IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, string>> rawHttp, string culture)
{
    var http = HttpData(rawHttp, culture);
        ...
        if (Action == "create")
        {
            RequestType = RequestTypes.EditorCreate;
            Data = http["data"] as Dictionary<string, object>;
        }

after this line Data = http["data"] as Dictionary<string, object>;
the Data get a null.

I'm wondering where the error comes from ? the HttpData()? or
What I was trying is wrong?

Jack Ting

OK, I trace down into HttpData() which use _HttpConv() to convert string into various type of data value, but it does not process { and [ at all.

I check the function _Build(), the main part of it actually make use of variable http -- an Dictionary<string, object>.

So, why not move the first line of it var http = HttpData(rawHttp, culture); out where who calls it. And then we can have another overload of function DtRequest() ?

public DtRequest(Dictionary<string, object> jsObj) {
    _Build(jsObj);
}

allan

Doesn't that fall under this constructor? Dictionary is IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<TKey,TValue>> - perhaps it is just the TValue that is the issue, it should be an object...?

Allan