MVC reusable propertygrid

Question

In my web application framework (currently WebForms) I have a control that behaves like a classic propertygrid. It is initialized with an object ID (database key), then it reads metadata to determine the type of the object and the attributes of the object. It displays the attributes, string attributes as textboxes, bool attributes as checkboxes, enum attributes as dropdown lists. On page submit there is a method of the control ctrl.SaveData() that saved the changed attribute values back to the database.

The WebForm control tree and event model supports this approach quite nicely. Now I am asking myself if it is possible to achieve a similar solution for ASP.NET MVC. The main objective is to have a generic, reusable component that can be applied in a variety of situations with not much hassle. Additionally the solution must be flexible enough to put multiple instances of the component for multiple objects on a single page. Here the auto-generated WebForms HTML IDs also helped.

I am very curious about your ideas! Thanks a lot for answering!

Answer 1

You could achieve this effect using a custom ViewModel that contains enough metadata to identify the object being edited/saved. You would use this in conjunction with a partial view that renders the ViewModel. The main page would use the metadata in the ViewModel to either direct the post to a specific controller action to save that particular object or pass the metadata back to a common action (as hidden inputs, perhaps) in order that that action can choose the proper table in which to persist the data.

Personally, I would not take this approach. My feeling is that the more general you make a view/action, the more work it becomes to adapt it for different circumstances. I have done similar things for viewing sets of objects, but for a detail view or editing I like to work with more specific models and views.