ASP.NET MVC + Retrieving one to many relationship using jQuery Tab

Question

I have a form that has a section where it uses jQuery tab generated by BeginCollectionItem. This is done by one-to-many relationship. I can create multiple tabs within the form and can submit it (newForm.cshtml). However, when it comes to editing, especially when I have to retrieve the form (with multiple tabs filled with information), I am kinda stuck here.

So the scenario is simple. I have a table that shows the list of submitted forms and can click an edit link of a row to edit that retrieved form. At this moment, I can only retrieve the Name in NewForm, but other Names associated with Family tabs are not retrieved.

Model:

public class NewForm
{
    public int NewFormId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }

    public ICollection<Family> Families{ get; set; }
}

public class Family
{
    public int FamilyId { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }   

    public int NewFormId { get; set; }
    public virtual NewForm NewForm{ get; set; }
}

Edit.cshtml:

@model Test.Models.NewForm

@using (Html.BeginForm("Edit", "NewForm", FormMethod.Post))
{
    <p>Your Name</p>
    @Html.EditorFor(m => m.Name)

    <button type="button" id="addFamily" name="addFamily">Add Family</button>

    <div id="tabs">
        <ul>
            <li><a href="#tabs-family">Family 1</a></li>
        </ul>
        <div id="tabs-family">             
            @Html.Action("AddNewFamily", "NewForm")
        </div>         
    </div>

    <button type="submit">Save</button>
}

<script>
$(function () {
    var tabTemplate = "<li><a href='#{href}'>#{label}</a></li>",
        familyTabCounter = 2,        

    var tabs = $("#tabs").tabs();     

    $('#addFamily').on('click', function (event) {
        $.ajax({
            url: '/NewForm/AddNewFamily',
        }).success(function (partialView) {
            addTab(partialView, this.url);
        });
        event.preventDefault();
    });       

    // Actual addTab function: adds new tab using the input from the form above
    function addTab(partialView, url) {
        if (url == "/NewForm/AddNewFamily") {
            var label = "Family " + familyTabCounter,
                id = "tabs-family" + familyTabCounter,
                li = $(tabTemplate.replace(/#\{href\}/g, "#" + id).replace(/#\{label\}/g, label));

            tabs.find(".ui-tabs-nav").append(li);
            tabs.append("<div id='" + id + "'><p>" + partialView + "</p></div>");
            tabs.tabs("refresh");
            familyTabCounter++;
        }
    } 
});   
</script>

Family.cshtml:

@model Test.Models.Family

<div class="editorRow">
    @using (Html.BeginCollectionItem("families"))
    {
        @Html.EditorFor(m => m.Name)     
    }
</div>

Controller:

public PartialViewResult AddNewFamily()
    {
        return PartialView("~/Views/NewForm/PartialView/Family.cshtml");
    }

public ActionResult Edit(int? id)
    {           
        NewForm form = db.NewForms
           .Include(i => i.Families) 
           .Where(x => x.NewFormId == id)
           .Single();         

        return View(form);
    }

How can I retrieve information for families(tabs) associated with newForm?

Edit

@using (Html.BeginForm("Edit", "NewForm", FormMethod.Post))
{
<p>Your Name</p>
@Html.EditorFor(m => m.Name)

<button type="button" id="addFamily" name="addFamily">Add Family</button>

@{int number = 1;}
    @foreach (var family in Model.Families)
    {
    <div id="tabs">
        <ul>
            <li><a href="#tabs-family">Family @number</a></li>
        </ul>
        <div id="tabs-family">    
            @Html.Partial("../NewForm/Family", family)   
        </div>        
    </div>
        number++;
    }

<button type="submit">Save</button>
}

I've reflected Stephen's advice and retrieving multiple families is working, but now I face another problem that I can't create each tab for each family. I tried with my code, but it creates tab, but it is placed in a weird place. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You need to generate a tabs for each Family in your collection using 2 loops, one to create the headers (the <li><a> elements), and one for the content (the <div> elements.

Note that your current implementation is generating duplicate id attributes, and you need to ensure that each content <div> has a unique id attribute, and that the associated header <a> element has matching href value.

@model Test.Models.NewForm
@{
    // Initialize values for loops
    int index = 1;
    int count = Model.Families.Count() + 1;
}
@using (Html.BeginForm("Edit", "NewForm", FormMethod.Post))
{
    <p>Your Name</p>
    @Html.EditorFor(m => m.Name)

    <button type="button" id="addFamily" name="addFamily">Add Family</button>

    <div id="tabs">
        <ul>
            // Create the tab header for each Family
            @for(int i = index; i < count; i++)
            {
                // Generate unique fragment identifier
                string id = String.Format("#family-{0}", i);
                <li><a href="@id">Family @i</a></li>
            }
        </ul>
        // Create the content (partial view) for each Family
        @foreach(var family in Model.Families)
        {
            // Generate unique ID
            string id = String.Format("family-{0}", index);
            <div id="@id">             
                @Html.Partial("Family", family)
            </div>
            index++;
        }    
    </div>
    <button type="submit">Save</button>
}

Side note: In your current script, you need to set the familyTabCounter using

var familyTabCounter = @index

so that clicking the 'Add' button will generate the correct id attribute and associated fragment identifier based on the number of existing Family in the collection.