MVC Approve or Unapprove button Clarification - asp.net-mvc-5

Question

I'm new to mvc and am trying to figure out how to create an approve button on an index view. Some clarification is needed.
There is a question here already about creating an Approve/Unapprove button in an mvc view. But after reviewing it, it appears to be missing information. The controller is expecting the SubmitButton and the ID to be passed to it. This I understand. But the view's submit buttons only sends the SubmitButton with no ID. Can someone please clear the fog? Thank you.
Controller
[ActionName("Index")]
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult IndexPost(string SubmitButton, int? id)
{
if (id == null)
{
return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
}
string buttonClicked = SubmitButton;
if(buttonClicked == "Approve")
{
CurrentApplication currentApplication = db.CurrentApplications.Find(id);
currentApplication.AppStatus = "APPROVED";
db.SaveChanges();
}
else if(buttonClicked == "Unapprove")
{
CurrentApplication currentApplication = db.CurrentApplications.Find(id);
currentApplication.AppStatus = "UNAPPROVED";
db.SaveChanges();
}
//Save Record and Redirect
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
View
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Approve" class="btn btn-sm btn-success">Approve</button>
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Unapprove" class="btn btn-sm btn-danger">Unapprove</button>
The controller will them update the database with the status change and return the Index to reflect the changes.

Answer 1

According to your newest example, here is the best answer I can think. At first, your code example has a few syntax errors and I needed to create own macaddress -class. I hope its similar than yours.
I used the same example than in my earlier answer. I only modified view and created maccaddress -class. The controller is same as earlier.
Modified View
This is the important part. I think you just have formatted Html form and tables in weird way. Here is a screenshot of how the view is rendered.
Now when user click Approve or Unapprove the form will send maccaddress id and button value to the controller IndexPost -action.
In a view example:
table is made just for example, modify it if needed.
I changed foreach location, now it is before Html.BeginForm. In your example, BeginForm was outside foreach and that caused a few problems when submitting your code. In a way how your form was rendered, it was impossible to know which Id is submitted.
Look #Html.Hidden("id", item.idMACAddress). It should be inside BeginForm.
I have only print id and status into a table for example purposes.
Action buttons are in the third column.
So why it works now is the way Form is rendered. In the example, there is now one html form for every maccaddress row. When a button is clicked, we know exactly what values we want to send into the controller.
#model IEnumerable<MySQL_MACAddress.Models.macaddress>
#{ ViewBag.Title = "Index"; }
<table class="table">
<tr>
<th> MAC Address </th>
<th> Status </th>
<th> Actions </th>
</tr>
#foreach (var item in Model)
{
using (Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
#Html.Hidden("id", item.idMACAddress)
<tr>
<td> #item.idMACAddress </td>
<td> #item.Status </td>
<td>
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Approve" class="btn btn-sm btn-success">Approve</button>
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Unapprove" class="btn btn-sm btn-danger">Unapprove</button>
</td>
</tr>
}
}
</table>
maccaddress.cs example
Check this example. Don't just copy it because probably it won't work with your code. The view is a more important part here so look it.
using System;
namespace MySQL_MACAddress.Models
{
public class macaddress
{
public macaddress()
{
}
public string Status { get; set; }
public int idMACAddress { get; set; }
}
}
Controller
Check earlier answer.

Answer 2

I suppose you have an HTML form in View made with Html-helpers. In your case, the following example code is probably the simplest one.
View - Home/Index.cshtml
<h2>Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!</h2>
<!--
If needed, check BeginForm parameters to send POST
into right controller and action.
-->
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<!-- second parameter is the value for id field. -->
#Html.Hidden("id", 2001)
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Approve" class="btn btn-sm btn-success">Approve</button>
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Unapprove" class="btn btn-sm btn-danger">Unapprove</button>
}
Controller - HomeController.cs
using System.Net;
using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace FormTest.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{
// GET action for index
public ActionResult Index()
{
// Do something here ...
return View();
}
// POST action for index.
// Will use same path as GET
[HttpPost]
[ActionName("Index")]
public ActionResult IndexPost(string SubmitButton, int? id)
{
if (id == null)
{
return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
}
if (SubmitButton == null)
{
return new HttpStatusCodeResult(HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
}
//Redirect to GET Index
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
}
}
The important part is the Hidden helper that will generate a hidden input field. If you need more modifications in your use case, read more here about parameters and examples.

Answer 3

#T.Nylund , Your thoughts? Thank you.
View
#model Enumerable<MySQL_MACAddress.Models.macaddress>
#{ ViewBag.Title = "Index"; }
#using (Html.BeginForm())
{
#Html.AntiForgeryToken()
<table class="table">
<tr>
<th>
#Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.Status)
</th>
</tr>
#foreach (var item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>
#HtmlHidden("id", item.idMACAddress)
</td>
<td>
#Html.DisplayFor(modelitem => item.Status)
</td>
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Approve" class="btn btn-sm btn-success">Approve</button>
<button type="submit" name="SubmitButton" value="Unapprove" class="btn btn-sm btn-danger">Unapprove</button>
}

Answer 4

We use different controller methods for the different actions when approving (button to approve, button to reject)
Our view:
if (!Model.IsApproved)
{
<td>
#using (Html.BeginForm("Approve", "BudgetItem", new { id = Model.BudgetItemSid, role = Model.ActiveRole }, FormMethod.Post))
{<button type="submit" id="btnApprove" style="display: none;">Approve</button>}
</td>
}
if (!Model.IsRejected)
{
<td>
#using (Html.BeginForm("Reject", "BudgetItem", new { id = Model.BudgetItemSid, role = Model.ActiveRole }, FormMethod.Post))
{<button type="submit" id="btnReject" style="display: none;">Reject</button>}
</td>
}
Our Controller:
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Approve(int id, EnumRole role)
{
}
[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Reject(int id, EnumRole role)
{
}