How do I tell what's happening when I postback my view? - asp.net-mvc-4

Question

I'm working with MVC 4 EF Code First and I have an object with an Edit View and it works properly. Then I created a very similar Create View, only when I click on the submit button I don't hit any breakpoints in the Controller. How do I tell what's wrong here? Is there somewhere I can set a breakpoint in either JavaScript or code-behind?
Model
public class ThirdParty : BaseModel
{
public Int32 Id { get; set; }
[MaxLength(2)]
private String CountryCode { get; set; }
[MaxLength(6)]
private Int32 SequenceNumber { get; set; }
public String UIN
{
get
{
if (CountryCode != null && SequenceNumber > 0)
return CountryCode.ToString() + "-" + SequenceNumber.ToString();
else
return null;
}
set
{
CountryCode = value.ToString().Substring(0, 2);
SequenceNumber = Int32.Parse(value.ToString().Substring(3, value.Length-3));
}
}
[MaxLength(250)]
[Required(AllowEmptyStrings = false, ErrorMessage = "{0} is required.")]
public String Name { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<RelationshipType> RelationshipTypes { get; set; }
// Address
public Int32 AddressId { get; set; }
[ForeignKey("AddressId")]
public virtual Address Address { get; set; }
public bool IsImported { get; set; }
public bool IsActive { get; set; }
public virtual ICollection<Attachment> Attachments { get; set; }
// constructor
public ThirdParty()
{
RelationshipTypes = new HashSet<RelationshipType>();
Attachments = new HashSet<Attachment>();
}
}
Controller Methods
public ActionResult Edit(int id)
{
ThirdPartyContext context = new ThirdPartyContext();
ThirdParty model = context.ThirdParties.Find(id);
ViewBag.Countries = context.Countries.ToList<Country>();
return View(model);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Edit(string button, ThirdParty model, int id)
{
if (button == "cancel")
return RedirectToAction("Index");
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
ThirdPartyContext context = new ThirdPartyContext();
model.Address.Country = context.Countries.Find(model.Address.CountryId);
context.Entry(model.Address.Country).State = EntityState.Modified;
context.Entry(model.Address).State = EntityState.Modified;
context.Entry(model).State = EntityState.Modified;
context.SaveChanges();
Success("Third Party record updated!");
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
else
{
ThirdPartyContext context = new ThirdPartyContext();
model.Address = context.Addresses.Find(model.AddressId);
return View("Edit", model);
}
}
public ActionResult Create()
{
ThirdPartyContext context = new ThirdPartyContext();
ViewBag.Countries = context.Countries.ToList<Country>();
return View();
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(ThirdParty model)
{
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
ThirdPartyContext context = new ThirdPartyContext();
List<ThirdParty> models = context.ThirdParties.ToList<ThirdParty>();
model.Id = models.Count() == 0 ? 1 : models.Select(x => x.Id).Max() + 1;
context.ThirdParties.Add(model);
context.SaveChanges();
Success("Your information was saved!");
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
Error("There were some errors in your form.");
return View(model);
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Create(string button, ThirdParty model)
{
if (button == "cancel")
return RedirectToAction("Index");
if (ModelState.IsValid)
{
ThirdPartyContext context = new ThirdPartyContext();
List<ThirdParty> models = context.ThirdParties.ToList<ThirdParty>();
model.Id = models.Count() == 0 ? 1 : models.Select(x => x.Id).Max() + 1;
context.ThirdParties.Add(model);
context.SaveChanges();
Success("Your information was saved!");
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
Error("There were some errors in your form.");
return View(model);
}
Edit View
#model Models.ThirdParty
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Edit";
Layout = "~/Views/shared/ContentLayout.cshtml";
}
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-12">
<div class="page-header">
<h2>Third Party</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-8">
#using (Html.BeginForm("Edit", "ThirdParty", new { ReturnUrl = ViewBag.ReturnUrl }, FormMethod.Post, new { #class = "form-horizontal" }))
{
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
<div class="form-group">
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Id)
<div class="clearfix visible-xs"></div>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.Address.Id)
</div>
<div class="form-group">
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.UIN)
<div class="clearfix visible-xs"></div>
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Name)
</div>
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.AddressId)
#Html.Partial("_EditAddress", Model)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.CreatedBy)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.CreatedOn)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ModifiedBy)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ModifiedOn)
<p>
<button name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-default" value="cancel">Cancel</button>
<button name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" value="submit">Submit</button>
</p>
}
</div>
</div>
** Create View **
#model Models.ThirdParty
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Create";
Layout = "~/Views/shared/ContentLayout.cshtml";
}
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-12">
<ul class="breadcrumb" style="margin-bottom: 5px;">
<li>Third Parties</li>
<li class="active">Create New Third Party</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-12">
<div class="page-header">
<h2>Create Third Party</h2>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-lg-2"> </div>
<div class="col-lg-8">
#using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "ThirdParty", new { ReturnUrl = ViewBag.ReturnUrl }, FormMethod.Post, new { #class = "form-horizontal" }))
{
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
#Html.ValidationSummary(true)
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.UIN)
#Html.EditorFor(model => model.Name)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.AddressId)
#Html.Partial("_EditAddress", Model)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.CreatedBy)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.CreatedOn)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ModifiedBy)
#Html.HiddenFor(model => model.ModifiedOn)
<p>
<button name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-default" value="cancel">Cancel</button>
<input name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" value="submit" title="Submit" />
<input type="submit" value="Create" />
</p>
}
</div>
<div class="col-lg-2"> </div>
</div>
Edit:
I may have left out a critical part. I have these 4 hidden fields on the ThirdParty and Address models that I am planning to set in the controller Create method (if I can ever get in there). Here's the Model:
public class BaseModel
{
[HiddenInput(DisplayValue = false)]
public Int32 CreatedBy { get; set; }
[HiddenInput(DisplayValue = false)]
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime CreatedOn { get; set; }
[HiddenInput(DisplayValue = false)]
public Int32 ModifiedBy { get; set; }
[HiddenInput(DisplayValue = false)]
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]
public DateTime ModifiedOn { get; set; }
}
I was thinking that maybe my view is invalid and that's why it's not sending it to the controller. Here's how these look in the page markup:
<input data-val="true" data-val-number="The field CreatedBy must be a number." data-val-required="The CreatedBy field is required." id="Address_CreatedBy" name="Address.CreatedBy" type="hidden" value="" />
<input data-val="true" data-val-date="The field CreatedOn must be a date." data-val-required="The CreatedOn field is required." id="Address_CreatedOn" name="Address.CreatedOn" type="hidden" value="" />
<input data-val="true" data-val-number="The field ModifiedBy must be a number." data-val-required="The ModifiedBy field is required." id="Address_ModifiedBy" name="Address.ModifiedBy" type="hidden" value="" />
<input data-val="true" data-val-date="The field ModifiedOn must be a date." data-val-required="The ModifiedOn field is required." id="Address_ModifiedOn" name="Address.ModifiedOn" type="hidden" value="" />
<div class="form-group">
<input data-val="true" data-val-number="The field CreatedBy must be a number." data-val-required="The CreatedBy field is required." id="CreatedBy" name="CreatedBy" type="hidden" value="" />
<input data-val="true" data-val-date="The field CreatedOn must be a date." data-val-required="The CreatedOn field is required." id="CreatedOn" name="CreatedOn" type="hidden" value="" />
<input data-val="true" data-val-number="The field ModifiedBy must be a number." data-val-required="The ModifiedBy field is required." id="ModifiedBy" name="ModifiedBy" type="hidden" value="" />
<input data-val="true" data-val-date="The field ModifiedOn must be a date." data-val-required="The ModifiedOn field is required." id="ModifiedOn" name="ModifiedOn" type="hidden" value="" />
</div>

Answer 1

If your action gets called, setting a breakpoint at the beginning of your action and attaching to the process should do the trick.
Have you made sure that a POST request is sent from the browser when you click submit on your Create page ?
I haven't tried to run your code but note that you have defined two Create actions with the same name to process the POST verb.
This is likely to be ambiguous for the ASP.NET MVC as it cannot figure out what action to call.
Also, you are defining a ReturnUrl route value in the following line:
#using (Html.BeginForm("Create", "ThirdParty", new { ReturnUrl = ViewBag.ReturnUrl }, FormMethod.Post, new { #class = "form-horizontal" }))
This doesn't seem to be used in your action handling the POST.
Why do you have 2 submit buttons with the values "submit" and "create" ?
You can remove the Create action that takes the extra button parameter and replace the markup:
<button name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-default" value="cancel">Cancel</button>
<input name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" value="submit" title="Submit" />
<input type="submit" value="Create" />
with something like:
<a class="btn btn-default" href="#Url.Action("Index", "ThirdParty")">Cancel</a>
<input name="button" type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" value="Create" title="Create" />
I invite you to read more documentation on how ASP.NET MVC Routing works.