I've a model, with some nested properties, lists ... and i want to get a querystring parameters from that model.
Is there any class/helper in asp.net mvc framework to do this ?
I know that with model binder we can bind a model from a querystring, but i want to do the inverse.
Thanks.
I'm fairly certain there is no "serialize to query string" functionality in the framework, mostly because I don't think there's a standard way to represent nested values and nested collections in a query string.
I thought this would be pretty easy to do using the ModelMetadata infrastructure, but it turns out that there are some complications around getting the items from a collection-valued property using ModelMetadata. I've hacked together an extension method that works around that and built a ToQueryString extension you can call from any ModelMetadata object you have.
public static string ToQueryString(this ModelMetadata modelMetadata)
{
if(modelMetadata.Model == null)
return string.Empty;
var parameters = modelMetadata.Properties.SelectMany (mm => mm.SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(null));
var qs = string.Join("&",parameters);
return "?" + qs;
}
private static IEnumerable<string> SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(this ModelMetadata modelMetadata, string prefix)
{
if(modelMetadata.Model == null)
yield break;
if(modelMetadata.IsComplexType)
{
IEnumerable<string> parameters;
if(typeof(IEnumerable).IsAssignableFrom(modelMetadata.ModelType))
{
parameters = modelMetadata.GetItemMetadata()
.Select ((mm,i) => new {
mm,
prefix = string.Format("{0}{1}[{2}]", prefix, modelMetadata.PropertyName, i)
})
.SelectMany (prefixed =>
prefixed.mm.SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(prefixed.prefix)
);
}
else
{
parameters = modelMetadata.Properties
.SelectMany (mm => mm.SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(string.Format("{0}{1}", prefix, modelMetadata.PropertyName)));
}
foreach (var parameter in parameters)
{
yield return parameter;
}
}
else
{
yield return string.Format("{0}{1}{2}={3}",
prefix,
prefix != null && modelMetadata.PropertyName != null ? "." : string.Empty,
modelMetadata.PropertyName,
modelMetadata.Model);
}
}
// Returns the metadata for each item from a ModelMetadata.Model which is IEnumerable
private static IEnumerable<ModelMetadata> GetItemMetadata(this ModelMetadata modelMetadata)
{
if(modelMetadata.Model == null)
yield break;
var genericType = modelMetadata.ModelType
.GetInterfaces()
.FirstOrDefault (x => x.IsGenericType && x.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == typeof(IEnumerable<>));
if(genericType == null)
yield return modelMetadata;
var itemType = genericType.GetGenericArguments()[0];
foreach (object item in ((IEnumerable)modelMetadata.Model))
{
yield return ModelMetadataProviders.Current.GetMetadataForType(() => item, itemType);
}
}
Example usage:
var vd = new ViewDataDictionary<Model>(model); // in a Controller, ViewData.ModelMetadata
var queryString = vd.ModelMetadata.ToQueryString();
I haven't tested it very thoroughly, so there may be some null ref errors lurking in it, but it spits out the correct query string for the complex objects I've tried.
@Steve's code had some minor bug when extra nesting and enumerables were the case.
public class BarClass {
public String prop { get; set; }
}
public class FooClass {
public List<BarClass> bar { get; set; }
}
public class Model {
public FooClass foo { get; set; }
}
var model = new Model {
foo = new FooClass {
bar = new List<BarClass> {
new BarClass { prop = "value1" },
new BarClass { prop = "value2" }
}
}
};
var queryString = new ViewDataDictionary<Model>(model).ModelMetadata.ToQueryString();
The value of queryString should be:
"?foo.bar[0].prop=value1&foo.bar[1].prop=value2"
But @Steve's code produces the following output:
"?foobar[0].prop=value1&foobar[1].prop=value2"
Here is a slightly modified version of the @Steve's solution:
public static class QueryStringExtensions {
#region inner types
private struct PrefixedModelMetadata {
public readonly String Prefix;
public readonly ModelMetadata ModelMetadata;
public PrefixedModelMetadata (String prefix, ModelMetadata modelMetadata) {
Prefix = prefix;
ModelMetadata = modelMetadata;
}
}
#endregion
#region fields
private static readonly Type IEnumerableType = typeof(IEnumerable),
IEnumerableGenericType = typeof(IEnumerable<>);
#endregion
#region methods
public static String ToQueryString<ModelType> (this ModelType model) {
return new ViewDataDictionary<ModelType>(model).ModelMetadata.ToQueryString();
}
public static String ToQueryString (this ModelMetadata modelMetadata) {
if (modelMetadata.Model == null) {
return String.Empty;
}
var keyValuePairs = modelMetadata.Properties.SelectMany(mm =>
mm.SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(new List<String>())
);
return String.Join("&", keyValuePairs.Select(kvp => String.Format("{0}={1}", kvp.Key, kvp.Value)));
}
private static IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<String, String>> SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters (this ModelMetadata modelMetadata, List<String> prefixChain) {
if (modelMetadata.Model == null) {
yield break;
}
if (modelMetadata.IsComplexType) {
IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<String, String>> keyValuePairs;
if (IEnumerableType.IsAssignableFrom(modelMetadata.ModelType)) {
keyValuePairs = modelMetadata.GetItemMetadata().Select((mm, i) =>
new PrefixedModelMetadata(
modelMetadata: mm,
prefix: String.Format("{0}[{1}]", modelMetadata.PropertyName, i)
)
).SelectMany(prefixed => prefixed.ModelMetadata.SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(
prefixChain.ToList().AddChainable(prefixed.Prefix, addOnlyIf: IsNeitherNullNorWhitespace)
));
}
else {
keyValuePairs = modelMetadata.Properties.SelectMany(mm =>
mm.SelectPropertiesAsQueryStringParameters(
prefixChain.ToList().AddChainable(
modelMetadata.PropertyName,
addOnlyIf: IsNeitherNullNorWhitespace
)
)
);
}
foreach (var keyValuePair in keyValuePairs) {
yield return keyValuePair;
}
}
else {
yield return new KeyValuePair<String, String>(
key: AntiXssEncoder.HtmlFormUrlEncode(
String.Join(".",
prefixChain.AddChainable(
modelMetadata.PropertyName,
addOnlyIf: IsNeitherNullNorWhitespace
)
)
),
value: AntiXssEncoder.HtmlFormUrlEncode(modelMetadata.Model.ToString()));
}
}
// Returns the metadata for each item from a ModelMetadata.Model which is IEnumerable
private static IEnumerable<ModelMetadata> GetItemMetadata (this ModelMetadata modelMetadata) {
if (modelMetadata.Model == null) {
yield break;
}
var genericType = modelMetadata.ModelType.GetInterfaces().FirstOrDefault(x =>
x.IsGenericType && x.GetGenericTypeDefinition() == IEnumerableGenericType
);
if (genericType == null) {
yield return modelMetadata;
}
var itemType = genericType.GetGenericArguments()[0];
foreach (Object item in ((IEnumerable) modelMetadata.Model)) {
yield return ModelMetadataProviders.Current.GetMetadataForType(() => item, itemType);
}
}
private static List<T> AddChainable<T> (this List<T> list, T item, Func<T, Boolean> addOnlyIf = null) {
if (addOnlyIf == null || addOnlyIf(item)) {
list.Add(item);
}
return list;
}
private static Boolean IsNeitherNullNorWhitespace (String value) {
return !String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value);
}
#endregion
}
