Magic Suggest - Pre-select multiple items from MVC Model

Question

I'm looking for a way to populate the Magic Suggest control with multiple values. I am using ASP.NET MVC and would like to set these values based on properties in the model.

Part 1: Magic Suggest Support for Multiple Values? A related question on SOF addresses adding a single value but not multiple. Is this possible?

Part 2: Ideally, I'd like to bind the control the MVC model somehow. If this is not possible, I'd at least like to set the pre-selected values dynamically. I have access the model via razor syntax. Something similar to how Magic Suggest allows you to set the data perhaps.

 $(function () {
        $('#magicsuggest').magicSuggest({
            data: '/controller/GetValuesJson?mealId=@Model.Id',
            valueField: 'Id',
            displayField: 'Name',
            /* The property below allows pre-selection */
            /* How can I use Razor and set from my MVC model?* /
            value: */ Some Code Here */
        });
    });

EDIT: Part 2: Attempting to set the value property by any variable seems to fail. I've tried variations of strings, quotes etc. to no avail.

 var returnedIds = [1,2]; // Or some variable population 
         $(function () {
            $('#magicsuggest').magicSuggest({
                data: '/controller/GetValuesJson?mealId=@Model.Id',
                valueField: 'Id',
                displayField: 'Name',
                value: [returnedIds]
            });
        });

Solved: Thanks to @karlipoppins posts below and some tinkering.

$(function ()
{
    $.ajax({
            url: '@Url.Action("GetSomeValuesJson")',
            data: { Id: 1},
            type: 'post',
            success: function (returnedVal)
            {
                var ms = $('#magicsuggest').magicSuggest(
                { 
                    data: '/Meal/GetSomeValuesJson?&Id=@Model.Id',
                    valueField: 'Id',
                    displayField: 'Name',
                });

                ms.setValue(returnedVal);
            }
        });
});

If I might add a suggestion/tip to this $.ajax approach (thank you, by the way!), you can put a spinner/loading .gif inside the #magicsuggest div and it will be replaced by the control when it loads - really quick and handy trick to let the user know something is happening, in case the ajax call takes some time. — Johnny Saxon, Jun 12 '15 at 17:46

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered May 29 '14 at 22:25

From what I understand you are trying to set multiple values when the component is loaded up. On your code you are using Id as the value field and Name as the displayField.

This means that magicsuggest is expecting data to be in the form of

[{"Id": 1, "Name": "hello"}, {"Id": 2, "Name": "world"}, {"Id": 3, "Name": "no"}]

Now to set multiple values, you can

1) do that when defining the component in js:

    $('#magicsuggest').magicSuggest({
        data: '/controller/GetValuesJson?mealId=@Model.Id',
        valueField: 'Id',
        displayField: 'Name',
        value: [1, 2] // select 'hello', 'world'
    });

2) or you can also define it directly in your DOM containing field:

<div id="magicsuggest" value="[1,2]"></div>

and then create the component like this:

    $('#magicsuggest').magicSuggest({
        data: '/controller/GetValuesJson?mealId=@Model.Id',
        valueField: 'Id',
        displayField: 'Name'
    });

See both examples here: http://jsfiddle.net/Kpz6y/

Cheers

I tried the code above and it works great to solve Part 1 of the question (selecting multiple). + 1 Thank you! Part 2 (setting these values dynamically) remains more elusive. As you note, the data field accepts a call to a controller to populate dynamically. I have not been able to find a similar option for the selected values. — PortageMonkey, May 30 '14 at 03:04
There is no way to directly bind the selected values. You have to do that yourself, using `$.ajax` to retrieve the values and then use the method `setValue()` on the component. — Gad, May 30 '14 at 04:46

Magic Suggest - Pre-select multiple items from MVC Model

1 Answers1

Linked