MVC3 Partial view inside Master Page

Question

On my site, I want to display a Login box on all pages. So I wanted to make a partial view page, which I use on my _Layout.cshtml file in Shared.

But where would the controller for this partial view go? And how would my Login button have access to it?

So, when the Request.IsAuthenticated is true, the login box shows 'Logged in as ...', but when the result is false, I get a little table with the usual Username/Password form.

Edit: After trying some answers below, I seem to be stuck in an endless lopp on the GET method below. It it because my partial view is trying to load me _Layout.cshtml file, as it want to accosiate the 'masterpage' with the partial view? And because my partial view is being rendered in _Layout.cshtml, it's lopping?

public class LoginController : Controller
{
    //
    // GET: /Login/

    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult Index(LoginModel loginModel)
    {
        if(ModelState.IsValid)
        {
            var g = new GallaryImage();
            var user = g.LoginUser(loginModel.Username, loginModel.Password);
            if(user != null) 
            {
                FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie(user.username, false);
                return RedirectToAction("index", "Home");
            }
            ModelState.AddModelError("", "Invalid Username/Password");
        }
        return View();
    }

In my _Layout.cshtml, I am trying to load the partial view like this:

<div style="text-align: right">
      @Html.Action("Index", "Login")
</div>

See the issue?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 07 '12 at 08:56

2

You can give controller name as attribute to Html.Action method

Html.Action("ActionName", "ControllerName")

If you use Razor syntax, you must write @Html.Action("ActionName", "ControllerName") in your view and your Action with name ActionName should return PartialView(which wil be your login area).

answered Jan 07 '12 at 08:56

Chuck Norris

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Would this be in a controller? – Craig Jan 07 '12 at 08:57
Thanks - I've tried this, and am now stuck in an endless loop on my partial view Index method. – Craig Jan 07 '12 at 09:18
What means "partial view index method"? – Chuck Norris Jan 07 '12 at 10:29
Make sure that you write Layout=null in your Index view of Login Controller, otherwise it will be in endless loop of course. – Chuck Norris Jan 08 '12 at 06:29
You must someway make difference within that view's so I will recomend you to make your Login-box View PartialView without any layout. – Chuck Norris Jan 08 '12 at 06:30

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 07 '12 at 09:10

2

FYI, Views don't have controllers. Controllers have Views. The distinction may seem subtle, but it's not. A view can be used by any number of controllers, and views don't care or know about the controllers. So you have to think about the current URL, which means the current Action Method.

In the case of your login partial, it doesn't need much if anything from the Controller. It's directly accessing the User property of the page to find out if it's authenticated. Your login button is just a form with it's action method set to your login method of your account controller.

Even the username can be displayed from the User property of the page.

Just look at the default MVC app that is generated when you create a new Internet project. It has all this functionality already implemented. Just copy it.

answered Jan 07 '12 at 09:10

Erik Funkenbusch

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Thanks - I looked at the default project. The Login screen is just the links - I am trying to embed the whole login form it's self into the _Layout "masterpage" and if he's logged in, just show "Welcome, Username". – Craig Jan 07 '12 at 22:21
@Craig - it works the same way, you just put your form in your if block. It's very straight forward. – Erik Funkenbusch Jan 08 '12 at 02:21
Thanks - should the partial view be in the shared folder, or in the views folder, if it's being used in the _Layout ? – Craig Jan 08 '12 at 09:27

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 28 '12 at 00:49

0

Try to use HTML.RenderAction("Action", "Controller") and make sure you are not calling your master page from within the partial view. This has the potential to produce a loop.

I'm using MVC 3 ASPX view engine not razor though.

edited Oct 28 '12 at 00:49

Picrofo Software

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answered Mar 05 '12 at 01:12

MMUrray

1

MVC3 Partial view inside Master Page

3 Answers3