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Load and Save Handsontable Data From/To Controller in ASP.NET MVC

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26 Jan 2016 2  
This method will use jQuery Ajax to POST and GET Handsontable JSON data from/to Controller in ASP.NET MVC.

Introduction

There are a lot of packages that provide "Excel-like spreadsheets" in ASP.NET MVC. For example: "Grid.Mvc"
but in my opinion "Handsontable" is the most customize-able and feature loaded one, with compatibility with most common languages.

Background

Handsontable is very easy to use"Excel-like spreadsheet" and it has tons of features, but when it gets to binding the table data with the controller, it became a little tricky as we should use Ajax to do the job.

Here, we will use Handsontable Official Guide example and customize it to ASP.NET MVC4 to pass data from/to the controller.

Using the Code (Only 3 Steps)

1) Enable "Handsontable" in your Project

  • Download it from here.
  • Add "handsontable.full.min.js" to the Scripts folder and add "handsontable.full.css" to the content folder.
  • After Handsontable is downloaded, add those lines to the "_Layout.cshtml" <head> tag.
<script src="~/Scripts/handsontable.full.min.js"></script>
<link href="~/Content/handsontable.full.css" rel="stylesheet"/>

2) Edit the View

2.1) Add the HTML Code

It contains:

  • Two buttons for loading and saving data
  • A checkbox for autosave feature
  • A console tag for "User Messages"
  • and finally, a div used to load Handsontable

2.2) Add the Script Code

It contains:

  • Variables declaration
  • Handsontable Settings
  • Ajax Get Method (Load)
  • Ajax POST Method (Save)
  • Ajax POST Method (AutoSave AfterChange)
<div class="container">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-sm-12 col-md-12 text-center">
            <div class="ajax-container">
                <div class="controls">
                    <button class="intext-btn btn btn-primary center-block" 
                    id="load" name="load">Load</button>
                    <button class="intext-btn btn btn-primary center-block" 
                    id="save" name="save">Save</button>
                    <label><input type="checkbox" autocomplete="off" 
                    checked="checked" id="autosave" 
                    name="autosave">Autosave</label>
                </div>
                <pre class="console" 
                id="example1console">Click "Load" to load data from server</pre>
                <div id="example1" 
                class="hot handsontable dataTable table-striped center-block"></div>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

<script type="text/javascript">

    // Variables declaration & to make our life easier we set our HTML tags to variables too
    var
        $$ = function(id) {return document.getElementById(id);},
        container = $$('example1'),
        exampleConsole = $$('example1console'),
        autosave = $$('autosave'),
        save = $$('save'),
        load = $$('load'),
        autosaveNotification,
        hot;

    hot = new Handsontable(container, {
        startRows: 8,
        startCols: 6,
        rowHeaders: true,
        colHeaders: true,
        // This is for the AutoSave func
        afterChange: function(change, source) {
            if (source === 'loadData') {
                return; //don't save this change
            }
            if (!autosave.checked) {
                return;
            }
            clearTimeout(autosaveNotification);
            jQuery.ajax({
                url: '@Url.Action("AddCar")',
                type: "POST",
                dataType: "json",
                contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
                data: JSON.stringify(hot.getData()),
                async: true,
                processData: false,
                cache: false,
                success: function (data) {
                    exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Changes will be autosaved';
                    autosaveNotification = setTimeout(function () {
                        exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Autosaved (' + change.length + 
                        ' ' + 'cell' + 
                        (change.length > 1 ? 's' : '') + ')';
                    }, 1000);
                    //alert(data);
                },
                error: function(xhr) {
                    exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Autosave: No Response from Controller';
                    //alert('error');
                }
            });
        }
      // End of AutoSave func
    });

    // GET method gets data from the Controller
    Handsontable.Dom.addEvent(load, 'click', function () {
        jQuery.ajax({
            url: '/Home/GetCar', //Controller to Get the 
            			//JsonResult From -- Json(jsonData, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
            type: "GET",
            dataType: "json",
            contentType: 'application/json; 
            charset=utf-8', // dataType and contentType should be json
            async: true,
            processData: false,
            cache: false,
            success: function (data) {      // on Success send the Json data 
            					// to the table by using loaddata function""
                //alert(data);
                hot.loadData(data);
                exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Data loaded';
            },
            error: function (xhr) {
                alert('error');
            }
        });

        // POST method gets data to the Controller
        Handsontable.Dom.addEvent(save, 'click', function () {
            jQuery.ajax({
                url: '/Home/AddCar',
                type: "POST",
                dataType: "json",
                contentType: 'application/json; charset=utf-8',
                data: JSON.stringify(hot.getSourceData()),
                async: true,
                processData: false,
                cache: false,
                success: function (data) {
                    exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Data saved';
                    //alert(data);
                },
                error: function (xhr) {
                    exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Save error';
                    //alert('error');
                }
            });
        });

        Handsontable.Dom.addEvent(autosave, 'click', function() {
            if (autosave.checked) {
                exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Changes will be autosaved';
            }
            else {
                exampleConsole.innerHTML = 'Changes will not be autosaved';
            }
        });
    });

</script>

2) Edit the Controller

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }

    //you can also use list of objects
    //(ex: public ActionResult AddCar(IEnumerable<Cars> CarsListFromTable))
    public ActionResult AddCar(List<string[]> dataListFromTable)
    {
        var dataListTable = dataListFromTable;
        return Json("Response, Data Received Successfully");
    }
    public JsonResult GetCar()
    {
        var jsonData = new[]
                     {
                         new[] {" ", "Kia", "Nissan",
                         "Toyota", "Honda", "Mazda", "Ford"},
                         new[] {"2012", "10", "11",
                         "12", "13", "15", "16"},
                         new[] {"2013", "10", "11",
                         "12", "13", "15", "16"},
                         new[] {"2014", "10", "11",
                         "12", "13", "15", "16"},
                         new[] {"2015", "10", "11",
                         "12", "13", "15", "16"},
                         new[] {"2016", "10", "11",
                         "12", "13", "15", "16"}
                    };

        return Json(jsonData, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }
}

Now, you are done and you should load and save data from the table.

Points of Interest

Now, I am very interested in "Handsontable" the AngularJS directive for Handsontable, I think databinding will be a lot easier especially with MVC5.

History

  • Handsontable_MVC_4.zip V1

License

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