ASP.NET MVC partial view that updates without controller

Question

I have a partial view that shows a list of Categories. I'd like to put that partial view on any page, but I'd like to have it to call to the service and get a list of categories by itself without me having to do that in every controller action. Something like webforms in which you can put a code-behind on it.

For eg.

Actions

    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        JobListViewModel model = new JobListViewModel();
        model.Categories= jobService.GetCategories();

        return View(model);
    }

    public ActionResult Details(int id)
    {
        Job job = jobService.GetJob(id);
        return View(job);
    }

I created a partial that will take the model.Categories model and display a list. As you can see, the Index page will work fine, but I do not want to call it again in the Details page. Is there a way to make my partialview call to the GetCategories() service by itself?

Tom Clarkson · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-11 04:23:54Z

3

Use Html.RenderAction - that gives the partial view its own controller action.

answered Jan 11, 2011 at 4:23

Tom Clarkson

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2 Comments

Shawn Mclean Over a year ago

So I make an action that returns a partial view and call renderaction?

Tom Clarkson Over a year ago

Right - aside from using a separate controller action method it is much the same as RenderPartial.

Gustav Dahl · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-11 07:03:59Z

2

You should also mark you partial action with the attribute [ChildActionOnly].

answered Jan 11, 2011 at 7:03

Gustav Dahl

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Comments

jim tollan · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-11 09:38:19Z

0

DVark,

As noted in the accepted answer, for your scenario, RenderAction is the most appropriate.

I thought I'd link a little article that distils my thinking on the topic (i.e. when to use RenderPartial vs RenderAction):

http://cbertolasio.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/mvc-html-renderaction-vs-html-renderpartial/

hope it helps

[edit] - as an aside. a year or so ago, i got myself into a few scrapes by not appreciating the power of RenderAction, in favour of RenderPartial. as a result, i had littered the shared view space with lots of partialviews in order to access them from a variety of sources. the moral of the story: know your 'territory' before planting your flag.

edited Jan 11, 2011 at 9:38

answered Jan 11, 2011 at 9:04

jim tollan

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