You should use partial views. I use the following approach:
Use a view model so you're not passing your domain models to your views:
public class EditPersonViewModel
{
public int Id { get; set; } // this is only used to retrieve record from Db
public string Name { get; set; }
public string Age { get; set; }
}
In your PersonController:
[HttpGet] // this action result returns the partial containing the modal
public ActionResult EditPerson(int id)
{
var viewModel = new EditPersonViewModel();
viewModel.Id = id;
return PartialView("_EditPersonPartial", viewModel);
}
[HttpPost] // this action takes the viewModel from the modal
public ActionResult EditPerson(EditPersonViewModel viewModel)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
var toUpdate = personRepo.Find(viewModel.Id);
toUpdate.Name = viewModel.Name;
toUpdate.Age = viewModel.Age;
personRepo.InsertOrUpdate(toUpdate);
personRepo.Save();
return View("Index");
}
}
Next create a partial view called _EditPersonPartial. This contains the modal header, body and footer. It also contains the Ajax form. It's strongly typed and takes in our view model.
@model Namespace.ViewModels.EditPersonViewModel
<div class="modal-header">
<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>
<h3 id="myModalLabel">Edit group member</h3>
</div>
<div>
@using (Ajax.BeginForm("EditPerson", "Person", FormMethod.Post,
new AjaxOptions
{
InsertionMode = InsertionMode.Replace,
HttpMethod = "POST",
UpdateTargetId = "list-of-people"
}))
{
@Html.ValidationSummary()
@Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<div class="modal-body">
@Html.Bootstrap().ControlGroup().TextBoxFor(x => x.Name)
@Html.Bootstrap().ControlGroup().TextBoxFor(x => x.Age)
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button class="btn btn-inverse" type="submit">Save</button>
</div>
}
Now somewhere in your application, say another partial _peoplePartial.cshtml etc:
<div>
@foreach(var person in Model.People)
{
<button class="btn btn-primary edit-person" data-id="@person.PersonId">Edit</button>
}
</div>
// this is the modal definition
<div class="modal hide fade in" id="edit-person">
<div id="edit-person-container"></div>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
$('.edit-person').click(function () {
var url = "/Person/EditPerson"; // the url to the controller
var id = $(this).attr('data-id'); // the id that's given to each button in the list
$.get(url + '/' + id, function (data) {
$('#edit-person-container').html(data);
$('#edit-person').modal('show');
});
});
});
</script>