Object as a parameter for an action controller?

Question

Is it possible for an action controller to accept a literal object. For example, I have several views in which I would like to post various models from to a single controller th

Answer 1

The Default Asp.NET ModelBinder cannot bind generic Objects this way. You should take a look here to understand how the model will be build back in the server by the DefaultModelBinder: Understanding ASP.NET MVC Model Binding.

Given that your form has many Models, you should encapsulate them into a ViewModel to do this kind of operation.

The ViewModel should looks like this:

public class MyViewModel
{
  public Model1 Model1 {get; set;}
  public Model1 Model2 {get; set;}
  public Model1 Model3 {get; set;}
}

And the controller:

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult ProcessModel(MyViewModel myViewModel)
{
  // determine the model
  if(myViewModel.Model1 != null)
  {
    // continue with code
  }
  else if(myViewModel.Model2 != null)
  {
    // continue with code
  }
  // continue with model check, etc.       
}