First see basic ExtJS4 & ASP.NET MVC3 setup tutorial
In this example I will demonstrate just how easy it is to implement a type-ahead dropdown that will ping the server over AJAX every time a user types something in, and show a list of results with rich markup. It’s amazing just how easy it is to do this with ASP.NET MVC3 and ExtJS4 data stores.
The end result looks something like this:
See my previous example on getting ExtJS4 working with ASP.NET MVC3
Back when I used to work with ASP.NET AJAX Extensions 1.0 (5 year old tech), I used to do the following all the time:
JavaScript
Ext.Ajax.request({ url: ... , jsonData: { data: form.getForm().getValues() } ... }); // eo Ajax |
ASP.NET AJAX Extensions 1.0
[WebMethod(EnableSession = true)] public static void MyWebMethod( Dictionary<string,object> data ) { ... } |
…ASP.NET AJAX Extensions 1.0 handled the conversion of data from JSON to C# Dictionary, which is a pleasure to work with. To my great disappointment, I discovered that ASP.NET MVC3, the latest and greatest, won’t do that for you! I had to find a solution…
Continue reading ExtJS4 & ASP.NET MVC3 Dictionary
In this example I will demonstrate how to use an ExtJS4 store to perform an XML data read from an ASP.NET MVC3 controller. First let me say that I wasted a LOT of time reading fake tutorials on these keywords – seems there are a lot of people who can explain the ASP.NET MVC3 side, but not how to actually connect it to an ExtJS4 store using a clean proxy, AND pass parameters to the server. Especially using XML for the return data.
So, let’s say we just want a basic search box – when user types something in and hits Search, we will use an ExtJS4 store and POST to an ASP.NET MVC3 method, passing the search query as a JSON parameter, while returning results in XML. Here’s the basic ExtJS model & store configuration:
// Basic model Ext.define('MY.model.SearchResult', { extend: 'Ext.data.Model', fields: ['id','html'] }); // Basic store Ext.create('Ext.data.Store',{ model: 'MY.model.SearchResult', proxy: Ext.create('MY.proxy.MSAjaxProxy', { url: '/User/Search', reader: { type: 'xml', root: 'matches', record: 'match' } }) // eo proxy }) // eo store |
In this example we will use what we learned to build a “MSAjaxProxy” – just like a normal AjaxProxy, except geared towards IIS 6+ running MS AJAX Extensions 1.0. Proxies are used by all ExtJS stores (combos, grids, trees, etc.), so we would be able to do something like this:
{ xtype: 'combo' , displayField: 'attrName' , valueField: 'attrID' , store: { fields: ['attrID','attrName'] , proxy: Ext.create('MyOrg.proxy.MSAjaxProxy', { url: 'Default-UMRA.aspx/Test' , reader: { type: 'json' } }) // eo proxy } // eo store } |
In this example series I will show you something that might save you some headache – using ExtJS 4 AJAX controls with IIS 6+ running MS AJAX Extensions 1.0. We will need to make a custom proxy for use in stores, which are utilized throughout ExtJS4, i.e. in a combo:
Data will travel back and forth between our server-side C# code and client-side ExtJS 4 in efficient JSON packets, such as: {param:’test’}
Continue reading ASP.NET AJAX & ExtJS 4 in 2-way JSON (1)
