Customer KnockoutJS and MVC Demo using JSON

Rui Inacio

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19 Jul 2012CPOL1 min read

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Customer KnockoutJS and MVC demo using JSON

After reading about KnockoutJS, I decided to create a simple demo using JSON to communicate with the web server. The application retrieves a Customer from an ASP.NET MVC Action and sends it to be saved.

The KnockoutJS is a JavaScript Model View ViewModel (MVVM) framework. The View Model object contains properties which values are specified as ko.observable(). Knockout will automatically update the UI when the view model changes. KnockoutJS has a declarative binding syntax where the HTML view elements are bound with our view model object. Knockout uses the "data-bind" attribute in the HTML elements for the data binding.

To learn the basics, go to the KnockoutJS site by clicking here.

Pre-requisites

The ASP.NET MVC Controller has the actions to Get and Add a customer.

namespace KnockoutDemo.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            ViewBag.Message = "";
            return View();
        }

        [AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Post)]
        public JsonResult Get(int customerID)
        {
            // Get the customer ...
            Customer customer = new Customer {CustomerID = customerID, 
              FirstName = "John", LastName = "Doe", IsMale = true };

            return Json(customer);
        }

        [HttpPost]
        public JsonResult Add(Customer customer)
        {
            // Save the customer ...

            // return status message 
            var message = "Customer: " + 
            customer.FirstName + " " + customer.LastName + " Added.";
            message += " IsMale: " + customer.IsMale.ToString();
            return Json(message);
        }
    }
}

The ASP.NET MVC model is the customer:

public class Customer
{
    public int CustomerID { get; set; }
    public string FirstName { get; set; }
    public string LastName { get; set; }
    public bool IsMale { get; set; }
}

The ASP.NET MVC Layout is as follows:

HTML

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <title>@ViewBag.Title</title>
    <link href="@Url.Content("~/Content/Site.css")" 
        rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-1.5.1.min.js")" 
        type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/modernizr-1.7.min.js")" 
        type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/knockout.js")" 
        type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/json2.js")" 
        type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/knockout.validation.js")" 
        type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="page">
        <header>
            <div id="title">
                <h1>Knockout Demo</h1>
            </div>
            <div>&nbsp;</div>
        </header>
        <div>&nbsp;</div>
        <div>&nbsp;</div>
        <section id="main">
            @RenderBody()
        </section>
        <footer>
        </footer>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

And finally, the ASP.NET MVC view has the KnockoutJS specifics:

HTML

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Add Customer";
}

<h2>
@ViewBag.Message</h2>
<form action="" method="post">
  Customer Number:  <span data-bind="text: CustomerID"></span>
  First Name: <input data-bind="value: 
FirstName" style="width: 200px;" type="text" /> 
  Last Name: <input data-bind="value: 
LastName" style="width: 200px;" type="text" /> 
  <input data-bind="checked: IsMale" 
  type="checkbox" />Male
  <input data-bind="click: KnockoutDemoNamespace.addCustomer" 
  type="button" value="Add Customer" />
</form>

JavaScript

<script type="text/javascript">
// Initialized the namespace
var KnockoutDemoNamespace = {};

// View model declaration
KnockoutDemoNamespace.initViewModel= function(customer) {
    var customerViewModel = {
        CustomerID: ko.observable(customer.CustomerID),
        FirstName: ko.observable(customer.FirstName),
        LastName: ko.observable(customer.LastName),
        IsMale: ko.observable(customer.IsMale)
    };
    return customerViewModel;
}

// Bind the customer
KnockoutDemoNamespace.bindData = function(customer)
{
    // Create the view model
    var viewModel = KnockoutDemoNamespace.initViewModel(customer);

    ko.applyBindings(viewModel);
}

KnockoutDemoNamespace.getCustomer = function (customerID) {

    $.ajax({
        url: "/Home/Get/",
        type: 'post',
        data: "{'customerID':'1' }",
        contentType: 'application/json',
        success: function (result) {
            KnockoutDemoNamespace.bindData(result);
        },
        error: function (jqXHR, textStatus, errorThrown) {
            var errorMessage = '';
            $('#message').html(jqXHR.responseText);
        }
    });
}

KnockoutDemoNamespace.addCustomer = function () {
        $.ajax({
            url: "/Home/Add/",
            type: 'post',
            data: ko.toJSON(this),
            contentType: 'application/json',
            success: function (result) {

                $('#message').html(result);
            }
        });
    }

    $(document).ready(function () {
        KnockoutDemoNamespace.getCustomer(1);

    });
</script>

The KnockoutJS has the following specifics:

The demo performs a data bind with a span, and the input types text, checkbox and button. Note that the "data-bind" has the html element attribute to be affected and the View Model property associated.

View Model object: customerViewModel
HTML View: The HTML from the page with the KnockoutJS specific attributes for data binding
View Model activation: ko.applyBindings(viewModel);

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Written By

Rui Inacio

Team Leader

Portugal

I am an Experienced Senior Microsoft Consultant responsible for developing and defining architectures for various projects in a Microsoft environment, using a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and web based applications.
I am also a project manager using agile methodologies and SCRUM.
Software Quality Assurance is a mandatory in every project I am responsible.
As someone said:
“Anyone can program, but not everyone is a programmer...”

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Customer KnockoutJS and MVC Demo using JSON

Pre-requisites

License

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