Grid content JSON conversion - servlets

Question

I have a grid where user and add new rows as many as they want. After adding all the rows, they click the "Save" button. On Save button click, I want to send all the data entered by the user in JSON format to the server side code (i.e. a servlet in my case)
Below is the model and store definition:
Ext.define('Plant', {
extend: 'Ext.data.Model',
fields: [
// the 'name' below matches the tag name to read, except 'availDate'
// which is mapped to the tag 'availability'
{name: 'common', type: 'string'},
{name: 'botanical', type: 'string'},
{name: 'light'},
{name: 'price', type: 'float'},
// dates can be automatically converted by specifying dateFormat
{name: 'availDate', mapping: 'availability', type: 'date', dateFormat: 'm/d/Y'},
{name: 'indoor', type: 'bool'}
]
});
// create the Data Store
var store = Ext.create('Ext.data.Store', {
// destroy the store if the grid is destroyed
autoDestroy: true,
model: 'Plant'
});
On click of the save button, I am able to get the store like this:
{
text: 'Save',
handler : function(){
//Getting the store
var records = grid.getStore();
console.log(records.getCount());
Ext.Ajax.request({
url: '/CellEditing/CellEditingGridServlet',
method: 'POST',
jsonData: {
//How to assign the store here such that
//it is send in a JSON format to the server?
},
callback: function (options, success, response) {
}
});
}
But I don't know like how to convert the store content into JSON and send it in the jsonData of the ajax request.
I want the JSON data something like this in the server side:
{"plantDetails":
[
{
"common": Plant1,
"light": 'shady',
"price": 25.00,
"availDate": '05/05/2013',
"indoor": 'Yes'
},
{
"common": Plant2,
"light": 'most shady',
"price": 15.00,
"availDate": '12/09/2012',
"indoor": 'No'
},
]
}
Please let me know how to achieve this.
Regards,

Answer 1

Agreed with Neil, the right way to do this is through an editable store outfited with a proxy and a writer. See example here: http://docs.sencha.com/ext-js/4-1/#!/example/grid/cell-editing.html

Answer 2

Store
writer :
{
type : 'json',
allowSingle : true
}
Experiment with allowSingle as per your use case
In your controller
//if you want to set extra params
yourStore.getProxy().setExtraParam("anyParam",anyValue);
// sync the store
yourStore.sync({success : function() {
yourGrid.setLoading(false);
.. },
scope : this // within the scope of the controller
});
You should be creating the model with a new id ( you can ignore it at the server side and use your own key generation , but it lets extjs4 for its internal purposes know that a new record has been created).
creating a model instance
var r = Ext.create('yourModel', { id: idGen++, propA : valA , ... });
insert to grid
store.insert(0,r);
var editPlugin = grid.getPlugin(editPluginId);
editPlugin.startEdit(0,1);
Once you receive a response back the id's can be update to their true value.
in the Store
reader :
{
type : 'json',
root : 'yourdata',
successProperty : 'success',
idProperty : 'id'
}
If you were to use the same grid for handling and editing then you could use the write event or the appropriate event
for more advanced handling in the Store
listeners :
{
write : function(store,operation, eOpts)
{
var insertedData = Ext.decode(operation.response.responseText);
.. do something
}
}
I would recommend using the mvc architecture of Extjs4

Answer 3

This is what I tried and it seems to work:
var store = Ext.create('Ext.data.Store', {
// destroy the store if the grid is destroyed
autoDestroy: true,
model: 'Plant',
proxy: {
type: 'ajax',
url: '/CellEditing/CellEditingGridServlet',
writer: {
type: 'json',
root: 'plantDetails'
}
}
handler : function(){
grid.getStore().sync();
But I am getting an additional parameter in the JSON at the server side:
"id": null
I don't have this id set in my model then where is this coming from? Is there some way to set some values to it rather than having a default null value?