MVC4 Checkbox back to controller

Question

I'm not a seasoned front-end developer, so I'm struggling with this simple issue...

I have a model related to my database which is a list of 'things'. On my View, I add a checkbox for each row in the list. For every item checked, I want to add a row to an associative table. ...Pretty simple/standard logic. I've designed my checkbox names so I know what id's I'm dealing with, so that isn't my problem. What I'm struggling with is how to get visibility to the checkboxes in my controller. Simply put--what/how can I pass back these checkboxes to the controller so I can loop through them there and call my stored procedure to insert the rows?

Adding my code, but I don't think my issue is just about syntax--I'm not understanding how I actually send the list back to a controller method. I don't want to add it to my model, which is the result of a stored procedure call to get the reference information of the things I want to add. To modify that model would be to put in front-end "stuff" (what the user selected), which is irrelevant to my model which is a list of all related items--I only want a list of the id's of the ones that we want to relate in our associative table. I think I'm looking for a javascript, jquery or json that will generate the list for me so then I could send it to the controller when the "Save and Continue" button is clicked--that is the part I don't know how to do.

@model PagedList.IPagedList<LMN.Models.GetRelatedEquipmentByEquipmentItemCategory_Result>
@using PagedList.Mvc;

<link href="~/Content/PagedList.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "GetRelatedEquipment";
}

<h2>GetRelatedEquipment</h2>

@*@{var EquipmentItemCategoryId = ViewContext.RouteData.Values["EquipmentItemCategoryId"].ToString(); }*@

<table>

    <tr>
        <th>
                Select
            </th>
        <th>
            @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.FirstOrDefault().RelatedCategory)
        </th>
        <th>
            @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.FirstOrDefault().GroupName)
        </th>
        <th>
            @Html.DisplayNameFor(model => model.FirstOrDefault().MedicareCoverageLikely)
        </th>
    </tr>
    @{ var i = 0; }
    @foreach (var item in Model)
    {

        <tr>
            <td class="border">
                @Html.CheckBox("selectedObjects" + item.RelatedCategoryId)
                    @*@Html.CheckBox("selectedObjects" + item.RelatedCategoryId, new { value = "selectedObjects" + item.RelatedCategoryId })*@
                    @*@Html.Hidden("check[" + i.ToString() + "].RelatedCategoryId", item.RelatedCategoryId)*@

            </td>
            <td class="border">
                @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.RelatedCategory)
            </td>
            <td class="border">
                @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.GroupName)
            </td>
            <td class="border">
                @Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.MedicareCoverageLikely, true)
            </td>
                @Html.HiddenFor(modelItem => item.RelatedCategoryId)
        </tr>
        i++;
    }
</table>
<table>
    <tr>
        <td>
            @*@using (Html.BeginForm("GetRelatedSeatSupport", "Letter", new { model => model.FirstOrDefault().EquipmentItemCategoryId = 5 }))
            {*@
            @using (Html.BeginForm("TryThis", "Letter"))
            {
                <p>
                    <input type="submit" value="Save and Continue" />
                </p>
            }

            @*@Html.ActionLink("Save and Continue", "GetRelatedSeatSupport", new { EquipmentItemCategoryId = 7 })*@
        </td>
    </tr>
</table>

Answer 1

you have to check whether the checkbox is checked or not and attach the value to your model and send back to your controller either by ajax call or which ever way your sending back the modal.

var chk = $('#checkboxid').is(':checked') ? "Y" : "N";

Answer 2

You are generating checkboxes that have no relationship at all to your model. If you inspect the html you generating you will see (assuming you have 2 objects where the values of RelatedCategoryId are 1 and 2 respectively)

<input type="checkbox" name="selectedObjects1" .... value="True" />
<input type="hidden" name="selectedObjects1" .... value="False" />
<input type="checkbox" name="selectedObjects2" .... value="True" />
<input type="hidden" name="selectedObjects2" .... value="False" />

You model does not have boolean properties named selectedObjects1 and selectedObjects2 so it would never bind to anything.

The @Html.CheckBox() and @Html.CheckBoxFor() methods are for binding to boolean properties not for binding to an int.

Next, your checkboxes are not even inside the form, so would never be submitted to the controller method anyway.

Its unclear exactly what your wanting to do since you have not shown your controller methods or your models, but assuming you displaying a list of equipment and what to post back the selected items, then start with a view model representing what you want to display/edit in the view

public class EquipmentVM
{
  public int ID { get; set; }
  public string Name { get; set; }
  .... // other properties
  public bool IsSelected { get; set; }
}

Then in the controller, initialize a List<EquipmentVM> and map you data models to the view model collection and pass it to the view

@model List<EquipmentVM>
@using Html.BeginForm())
{
  <table>
    .... // table headers
    <tbody>
      @for(int i = 0; i < Model.Count; i++)
      {
        <tr>
          <td>
            @Html.CheckBoxFor(m => m[i].IsSelected)
            @Html.HiddenFor(m => m[i].ID)
          </td>
          <td>@Html.DisplayFor(m => m[i].Name)</td>
          .... // other display properties of your model
        <tr>
      }
     </tbody>
  </table>
  <input type="submit" ... />
}

Then in your POST method

public ActionResult Edit(List<EquipmentVM> model)
{
  IEnumerable<int> selectedIDs = model.Where(e => e.IsSelected).Select(e => e.ID);
  // do something with the selected ID's
}