ASP MVC - confirm page when adding object to database

Question

I'm making a simple CRUD app with ASP MVC and I want to have a confirm page when creating a new object and inserting it into the database.

The problem is that I'm having trouble passing the object between actions. I tried to save it in the session after it's created and then retrieving it when the user confirms, but I'm getting an InvalidOperationException when I try to insert it into the database ( I'm using Entity Framework )

I'm not even sure if I'm approaching this the right way. Any ideas?

Answer 1

What I like to do if the schema allows for it, is to have an active flag (and timestamp field) on the record. You insert on the first page without setting that flag. The confirm page merely sets the active flag. Another process can clean dead records that were not confirmed within a certain range of their timestamp. And the object or entity never ties up session memory.

edit for clarity: as a result you only pass the id of the created entity to the confirm page

Answer 2

Tim's is the best basic answer to this but if you don't want to include the extra logic you could also consider using hidden fields on the confirm page so confirming actually resubmits the form data (this means less DB trips and means that you don't have old unconfirmed entries sitting in the DB to filter out but means more data to and from the client).

Another alternative that might be preferred from a UI point of view is to have Tim's answer but if JavaScript is enabled make the submit button instead pop up a confirm screen, clicking OK would submit both the form and the confirmation in one go.