[SOLVED] Unobtrusive Ajax returns "The name 'Ajax' does not exist in the current context" in ASP.NET Core

Unobtrusive Ajax returns "The name 'Ajax' does not exist in the current context" in ASP.NET Core

If I start a new project in ASP.NET 4.5, select Manage NuGet packages, search for Ajax, then install Unobtrusive Ajax, I can then go into my .cshtml file and type @Ajax.___, e.g. @Ajax.beginForm.

If I create a new project with ASP.NET Core, I cannot, where instead it gives me this error:

The name 'Ajax' does not exist in the current context

I want to make a Form with an Ajax call as you could do in ASP.NET, such as:

@using (Ajax.BeginForm("EmployeeMaster", "Home", new AjaxOptions { 
    HttpMethod = "POST", UpdateTargetId = "divEmp" })) {
    ...
    }
}

In the above, I can see that Ajax is an object of type AjaxHelper which comes from `System.Web.MVC.WebViewPage... so maybe it was never meant to be available for .NET Core?

Anyone know what else I can try?

Solution

While the Ajax.BeginForm() methods do not work in ASP.NET Core, the actual Unobtrusive Ajax HTML does. The C# methods just help generate the HTML form tags. Forgive me if this syntax is wrong; this is from memory, but you get the idea:

@using (Ajax.BeginForm("EmployeeMaster", "Home", new AjaxOptions { HttpMethod = "POST", UpdateTargetId = "divEmp" }))
{
    //form content
}

becomes

<form asp-action="EmployeeMaster" asp-controller="Home" method="POST" data-ajax="true" data-ajax-update="divEmp">
    <!-- form content-->
</form>

NOTE: The above HTML STILL needs the Unobtrusive Ajax JS files for it to wire up these data-* attributes correctly. This is not a part of ASP.NET Core MVC.