MVCContrib Grid - how to add and delete rows with ajax ?

Question

Hello,

I'm wondering what's the best strategy to delete a row in MVCContrib generated grid.

Consider this grid:

Html.Grid(Model.Proc.Documents).Columns(column =>
{
    column.For(c => c.Name).Named("Title");
    column.For(c => c.Author.Name).Named("Author");
    column.For("Action").Action(
            delegate(DocumentDto doc)
            {
                const string cbxFrmt =
                        "<td><strong><a href=\"#\" onclick=\"DocDetails({0})\">View details</a></strong> | " +
                            "<strong><a href=\"#\" onclick=\"RemoveDoc({1})\">Delete</a></strong>" + 
                        "</td>";


                Response.Write(string.Format(cbxFrmt, doc.Id, doc.Id));
            }
            ).DoNotEncode().Named("Action");

})
.Attributes(id => "documentgrid"));

Each row has a link which calls RemoveDoc(docid) javascript function, where I should remove the row by calling an action in controller to actually remove the document in data model, which is quite easy, but then I can't figure out how to remove the row from tbody with Jquery. Please advise. Am I on a complitely wrong track ? What's the best way to do it ?

And about adding a row. Initially I thought of doing it somehow like that:

function UploadDocument() {

    var action = '<%=Html.BuildUrlFromExpression<MyController>(c => c.UploadDocument(parameters))%>';

    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: action,
        data: { data to upload },
        cache: false,
        dataType: 'text',
        success: function (data, textStatus) {
         var newRow = "<tr class='gridrow'><td>" + v1 + 
                "</td><td>" + doc_author + "</td>" +
                "<td><strong><a href=\"#\" onclick=\"DocDetails(doc_id_returned_by_ajax)\">View details</a></strong> | " +
                    "<strong><a href=\"#\" onclick=\"RemoveDoc(doc_id_returned_by_ajax)\">Delete</a></strong>" + 
                "</td>" +                              
                "</tr>";
            var docgrid = $('#documentgrid');
            var tbody = $("table[class='grid']>tbody");
            $(tbody).append(newRow);
        },
        error: function (xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {
            var msg = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText);
            alert('Error:' + msg.Message);
        }
    });
}

But I'm not sure this is the best practise to do it. Any other strategies ?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Maybe something among the lines:

<%= Html.Grid<Document>(Model.Proc.Documents)
    .Columns(column => {
        column.For(c => c.Name).Named("Title");
        column.For(c => c.Author.Name).Named("Author");
        column.For("TableLinks").Named("");
    })
%>

and in TableLinks.ascx:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<SomeNs.Document>" %>
<td>
    <% using (Html.BeginForm<HomeController>(c => c.Destroy(Model.Id))) { %>
        <%= Html.HttpMethodOverride(HttpVerbs.Delete) %>
        <input type="submit" value="Delete" />
    <% } %>
</td>

and in the controller:

[HttpDelete]
public ActionResult Destroy(int id)
{
    Repository.Delete(id);
    return RedirectToAction("Index");
}

As you can see I use a standard form with a submit button to delete. If you want to use AJAX it is very easy to generate a simple link and attach to the click event with jquery as you did in your example:

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<SomeNs.Document>" %>
<td>
    <%= Html.ActionLink(
        "Delete document", 
        "Destroy", 
        new { id = Model.Id }, 
        new { @class = "destroy" }
    ) %>
</td>

and finally progressively enhance the link:

$(function() {
    $('.destroy').click(function() {
        $.ajax({
            url: this.href,
            type: 'delete',
            success: function(result) {
                alert('document successfully deleted');
            }
        });
        return false;
    });
});

You can see those concepts in action in this sample project.