how do I create records using mvc ef with json?

Question

I know how to get data in json format from my MVC application (see below)

    public JsonResult Index()
    {
        return Json(db.Publications, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

What would the create method look like? Edit?

I'm guessing it would look something like the following

    [HttpPost]
    public void Create(Publication publication)
    {
        try
        {
            db.Publications.Add(publication);
            db.SaveChanges();
        }
        catch
        {
            // what do I catch?
        }
    }

If that is the case, what would my JSON call look like?

(Assuming the Publication class looks like the following)

public class Publication
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public String Title { get; set; }
}

Any help is appreciated.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

For the Index, you will probably get some exceptions since the EF objects have a lot of properties that you won't need in the client side and will throw circular references exceptions.

You will have to either create a new POCO class to "wrap" the entities returned by the repository or simply use an anonymous object as suggested here:

Serialize Entity Framework objects into JSON

i.e.:

return Json(db.Publications.Select(p => new {Id = p.Id, Title = p.Title}), JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

Then, the call using Json from the client will have to look like this (assuming you are using JQuery):

$.post('/controller/create', {id:$('#idField').val(), name:$('#nameField').val()}, function(){alert('Publication created');});

Hope this helps

That gets me headed in the right direction. I will have to make some adjustments to the 2nd part since I'm calling it from Android, but the concept seems easy enough to implement. Thank you for your help. — alockrem, Apr 19 '12 at 01:58

how do I create records using mvc ef with json?

1 Answers1