How to: Save a Dashboard State to Cookies and Restore this State on the Server Side (MVC)

• Mar 31, 2018
• 3 minutes to read

The sample illustrates how to save the current ASP.NET MVC Dashboard state (such as master filter or parameter values) to cookies on the client side and restore this state on the server side. The following API is used in this example:

• The ASPxClientDashboard.DashboardStateChanged event is handled to obtain the current dashboard state.
• The ASPxClientUtils.SetCookie client-side method is used to save the dashboard state to cookies.
• The DashboardConfigurator.SetDashboardStateService method is used to apply the dashboard state loaded from the cookies.

Note

A complete sample project is available at https://github.com/DevExpress-Examples/aspnet-mvc-dashboard-how-to-save-a-dashboard-state-to-cookies-t589151.

CustomDashboardStateService.cs

using DevExpress.DashboardCommon;
using DevExpress.DashboardWeb;
using System.Web;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies {
    internal class CustomDashboardStateService : IDashboardStateService {
        public DashboardState GetState(string dashboardId, XDocument dashboard) {
            HttpCookie cookie = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies["MVCxDashboardState"];
            if (cookie != null) {
                DashboardState dashboardState = new DashboardState();
                dashboardState.LoadFromJson(HttpUtility.UrlDecode(cookie.Value));
                return dashboardState;
            }
            else
                return null;
        }
    }
}

Global.asax.cs

using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Routing;

namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies {
    public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication {
        protected void Application_Start() {
            DashboardConfig.RegisterService(RouteTable.Routes);
            AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

            FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
            RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);

            ModelBinders.Binders.DefaultBinder = new DevExpress.Web.Mvc.DevExpressEditorsBinder();

            DevExpress.Web.ASPxWebControl.CallbackError += Application_Error;
        }

        protected void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e) {
            Exception exception = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.GetLastError();
        }
    }
}

HomeController.cs

using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies.Controllers {
    public class HomeController : Controller {
        public ActionResult Index() {
            return View();
        }
    }
}

Index.cshtml (C#)

<script type="text/javascript">
    function onDashboardStateChanged(s, e) {
        var cookies = e.DashboardState;
        ASPxClientUtils.SetCookie('MVCxDashboardState', cookies);
    }
</script>
@Html.DevExpress().Dashboard(settings => {
    settings.Name = "Dashboard";
    settings.WorkingMode = DevExpress.DashboardWeb.WorkingMode.ViewerOnly;
    settings.Width = Unit.Percentage(100);
    settings.Height = Unit.Percentage(100);
    settings.ClientSideEvents.DashboardStateChanged = "onDashboardStateChanged";
}).GetHtml()

DashboardConfig.cs

using DevExpress.DashboardWeb;
using DevExpress.DashboardWeb.Mvc;
using System.Web.Routing;

namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies {
    public static class DashboardConfig {
        public static void RegisterService(RouteCollection routes) {
            routes.MapDashboardRoute("dashboardControl");

            DashboardFileStorage dashboardFileStorage = new DashboardFileStorage("~/App_Data/Dashboards");
            DashboardConfigurator.Default.SetDashboardStorage(dashboardFileStorage);

            DashboardConfigurator.Default.SetDashboardStateService(new CustomDashboardStateService());
        }
    }
}

HomeController.vb

Imports System.Web.Mvc

Namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies.Controllers
    Public Class HomeController
        Inherits Controller

        Public Function Index() As ActionResult
            Return View()
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

DashboardConfig.vb

Imports System.Web.Routing
Imports DevExpress.DashboardWeb
Imports DevExpress.DashboardWeb.Mvc

Namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies
    Public NotInheritable Class DashboardConfig

        Private Sub New()
        End Sub

        Public Shared Sub RegisterService(ByVal routes As RouteCollection)
            routes.MapDashboardRoute("dashboardControl")

            Dim dashboardFileStorage As New DashboardFileStorage("~/App_Data/Dashboards")
            DashboardConfigurator.Default.SetDashboardStorage(dashboardFileStorage)

            DashboardConfigurator.Default.SetDashboardStateService(New CustomDashboardStateService())
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

CustomDashboardStateService.vb

Imports DevExpress.DashboardCommon
Imports DevExpress.DashboardWeb

Namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies
    Friend Class CustomDashboardStateService
        Implements IDashboardStateService

        Public Function GetState(ByVal dashboardId As String, ByVal dashboard As XDocument) As DashboardState Implements IDashboardStateService.GetState
            Dim cookie As HttpCookie = HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies("MVCxDashboardState")
            If cookie IsNot Nothing Then
                Dim dashboardState As New DashboardState()
                dashboardState.LoadFromJson(HttpUtility.UrlDecode(cookie.Value))
                Return dashboardState
            Else
                Return Nothing
            End If
        End Function
    End Class
End Namespace

Index.cshtml (VB.NET)

<script type="text/javascript">
    function onDashboardStateChanged(s, e) {
        var cookies = e.DashboardState;
        ASPxClientUtils.SetCookie('MVCxDashboardState', cookies);
    }
</script>
@Html.DevExpress().Dashboard(settings => {
    settings.Name = "Dashboard";
    settings.WorkingMode = DevExpress.DashboardWeb.WorkingMode.ViewerOnly;
    settings.Width = Unit.Percentage(100);
    settings.Height = Unit.Percentage(100);
    settings.ClientSideEvents.DashboardStateChanged = "onDashboardStateChanged";
}).GetHtml()

Global.asax.vb

Imports System.Web.Mvc
Imports System.Web.Routing

Namespace MvcDashboard_DashboardStateCookies
    Public Class MvcApplication
        Inherits System.Web.HttpApplication

        Protected Sub Application_Start()
            DashboardConfig.RegisterService(RouteTable.Routes)
            AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas()

            FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters)
            RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes)

            ModelBinders.Binders.DefaultBinder = New DevExpress.Web.Mvc.DevExpressEditorsBinder()

            AddHandler DevExpress.Web.ASPxWebControl.CallbackError, AddressOf Application_Error
        End Sub

        Protected Sub Application_Error(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
            Dim exception As Exception = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.GetLastError()
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace