ASP.NET MVC action methods can be developed using regular method parameters. In earlier versions of the ASP.NET MVC framework, these parameters were all simple types like integers, strings, booleans, … When required, a method parameter can be a complex type like a Contact with Name, Email and Message properties. It is, however, required to add a ModelBinder attribute in this case.
Here’s how a controller action method could look like:
public ActionResult Contact([ModelBinder(typeof(ContactBinder))]Contact contact)
{
// Add data to view
ViewData["name"] = contact.Name;
ViewData["email"] = contact.Email;
ViewData["message"] = contact.Message;
ViewData["title"] = "Succes!";
// Done!
return View();
}
Notice the ModelBinder attribute on the action method’s contact parameter. It also references the ContactBinder type, which is an implementation of IModelBinder that also has to be created in order to allow complex parameters:
public class ContactBinder : IModelBinder
{
#region IModelBinder Members
public object GetValue(ControllerContext controllerContext, string modelName, Type modelType, ModelStateDictionary modelState)
{
if (modelType == typeof(Contact))
{
return new Contact
{
Name = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.Form["name"] ?? "",
Email = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.Form["email"] ?? "",
Message = controllerContext.HttpContext.Request.Form["message"] ?? ""
};
}
return null;
}
#endregion
}
UPDATE: Also check Timothy's blog post on this one.
UPDATE: And my follow-up blog post.
