How to display create form in an existing MVC 4 view and C#

Question

I have view to display Restaurant. In this view at the bottom of the page, I want to display Comments form to add comments about that Restaurant.

Can someone please help me to do this using MVC 4 & C#.

My Models has the followign two tables:

/Classifieds TABLE
public class Classifieds
{
    [Key]
    public string C_Unique_Id { get; set; }

    public string AdType { get; set; }

    public string Title { get; set; }

    public string Description { get; set; }

}

//ClassifiedsComments TABLE
public class ClassifiedsComments
    {
        [Key]
        public string CCommentsUniqueId { get; set; }

        public string CommentAuthor { get; set; }

        public string Comment { get; set; }

        [ForeignKey("Classifieds")]
        public string C_Unique_Id { get; set; }   //this is the foreign key of Classified record
        public virtual Classifieds Classifieds { get; set; }
    }

Classifieds Details view:

 @model SomeIndianShit.Models.Classifieds

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Details";
}

                <table class="recordDetailsDisplayTableStype">
                    <tr>
                        <td colspan="2" align="left">
                            @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.Description) 
                            <br /><br />
                        </td>
                    </tr>

                    <tr>
                        <td>
                            Ad Type
                        </td>
                        <td align="left"> :
                            @Html.DisplayFor(model => model.AdType)
                        </td>
                    </tr>

                    SOME OTHER FIELDS DISPLAY HERE
                </table>


//Here I want to display "ClassifiedsComments" form to add comments to above Classified.
//HOW can I display the ClassifiedsComments create.cshtml code here??

Answer 1

Try this:

With View:

@using (Html.BeginForm("Classifieds", "ClassifiedsDetails", FormMethod.Post))

and

@using (Html.BeginForm("ClassifiedsComments", "ClassifiedsDetails", FormMethod.Post))

And use 1 Model for this:

public class ClassifiedsDetails
{
    public Classifieds Model1{ get; set; }

    public ClassifiedsComments Model2{ get; set; }
}

Update:

public class ClassifiedsDetails
{
    public ClassifiedsDetails()
    {
      Model1 = new Classifieds();
      Model2 = new ClassifiedsComments();
    }
    public Classifieds Model1{ get; set; }   
    public ClassifiedsComments Model2{ get; set; }
}

public class Classifieds
{
   public Classifieds()
   {
     C_Unique_Id = String.Emty;
     AdType = String.Emty;
     //---- Add default setting here------
   }
    [Key]
    public string C_Unique_Id { get; set; }

    public string AdType { get; set; }

    public string Title { get; set; }

    public string Description { get; set; }
}

Or display list of comments in View with Model:

public class ClassifiedsDetails
    {
        public ClassifiedsDetails()
        {
          Model1 = new Classifieds();
          Model2 = new List<ClassifiedsComments>();
        }
        public Classifieds Model1{ get; set; }   
        public List<ClassifiedsComments> Model2{ get; set; }
    }

View:

@model ClassifiedsDetails

@Html.LabelFor(model => model.Model1.Title)

@foreach (var items in Model.Model2)
{
   @item. //fields
}

Answer 2

You can then add a ViewModel like this

public class ClassifiedsDetailViewModel
{
  public ClassifiedsDetailViewModel()
  {
      ClassifiedsComments = new ClassifiedsComments();
  }

  public Classifieds Classifieds { get; set; }
  public ClassifiedsComments ClassifiedsComments { get; set; }
}

Pass this view model to your view and then add @Html.Partial("_CreateClassifiedsCommentsFormPartial", Model.ClassifiedComments) below the table. And in your partial view, you can use Html.BeginForm or the Ajax.BeginForm. See sample here

Answer 3

To display data in view create view model, but to post comment, dont use model:

public class ClassifiedsViewModel
{
  public ClassifiedsViewModel()
  {
     Comments = new List<ClassifiedsComments>();
  }

  public Classifieds Classifieds { get; set; }
  public List<ClassifiedsComments> Comments { get; set; }
}

Fill this view model, use in view to display details and comments like above you write.

if(Model != null && Model.Classifieds != null)
{
  <table> ...display details.. </table>
}

if(Model != null && Model.Comments != null)
{
  <table> ...display comments with foreach loop.. </table>
}

And at bottom, create comment post form

@using (Html.BeginForm("SaveComment", "Controller", FormMethod.Post,                                   new { enctype = "multipart/form-data" }))
{

    //set to which Classifieds will this comment posted
    @Html.Hidden("C_Unique_Id", Model.Classifieds.C_Unique_Id)

    <fieldset>
        @Html.TextBox("Comment")

       //other fields ....

       <input type="submit" value="Save" />
    </fieldset>
}

Edit2: View model creating:

public ActionResult Details(int id)
{ 
    //add breakpoint here and follow any step.

    ClassifiedsViewModel viewModel = new ClassifiedsViewModel();
    viewModel.Classifieds = db.Classifieds.Find(id);
    viewModel.Comments = db.LoadCommentsByClassifiedsId(id); //create db method
    // or instead of this line use:
    viewModel.Comments = db.ClassifiedsComments.Where(e => e.C_Unique_Id == id).ToList();

    return(viewModel);
}