Send array as postData parameter

Question

I just started working with jqGrid this week. I'm attempting to make a generic function that I can call to load a jqGrid with different postData parameters, defined in the function call.

Is there any way to do this? What I had considered was creating an array to store the parameter's name/value, then setting that as a parameter in the postData. The web service would then go through and add those parameters to the SQL stored procedure call.

Here is the generic code:

var paramArray = new Array();
var p1 = new JQGridParam("CustomerName","John");
var p2 = new JQGridParam("ProductName","Kleenex");
var p3 = new JQGridParam("YearPurchased","2012");

paramArray[0] = p1;
paramArray[1] = p2;
paramArray[2] = p3;

$("#list").jqGrid({
     datatype: "json",
     url: "services/Customers.asmx/GetCustomerData",
     mtype: "POST",
     postData: {
         sqlParams: paramArray         //HERE IS WHERE I NEED THE HELP
     },
     ajaxGridOptions: { contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" },
     ajaxRowOptions: { contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" },
     serializeGridData: function (postData) {
                  return JSON.stringify(postData);
     },
     serializeRowData: function (postData) {
                  return JSON.stringify(postData);
     },
     jsonReader: {
         root: function (obj) { return obj.d.rows; },
         page: function (obj) { return obj.d.page; },
         total: function (obj) { return obj.d.total; },
         records: function (obj) { return obj.d.records; },
     },
     colModel: [
         {name: "CustID", index: "CustID" },
         {name: "PurchaseAmount", index: "PurchaseAmount" }],
     colNames: ["Customer ID", "Amount Purchased"],
     pager: $("#pager"),
     loadOnce: true,
     rowNum: 10,
     rowList: [10,25,50],
     gridview: true,
     viewrecords: true
});

When I try this, it throws the error "cannot convert object of type System.String to type System.Array". Anyone have any ideas how to go about this?

Answer 1

JSON stringify the array.

JSON.stringify(paramArray);

Then in your webservice cast the JSON data back to your object.

Answer 2

JSON.stringify didn't work for me using MVC .NET with C#. Instead, I just serialized the form and sent the data as part of the URL:

 $("#myGrid").jqGrid({
       url: '<%=Url.Action("MyControllerMethod", "MyController") %>' + 
            '?' + $('#myForm').serialize(),

I left mtype as "POST" for this workaround. Using postData, I was able to get individual numbers or strings to bind just fine, but not arrays. This workaround will allow you to use arrays with C# MVC.