CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.net-mvc
buggs
buggs

Reputation: 3221

How can I return the current action in an ASP.NET MVC view?

I wanted to set a CSS class in my master page, which depends on the current controller and action. I can get to the current controller via ViewContext.Controller.GetType().Name, but how do I get the current action (e.g. Index, Show etc.)?

Upvotes: 301

Views: 163667

Answers (11)

Santosh Pandey
Santosh Pandey

Reputation: 111

Override this function in your controller

protected override void HandleUnknownAction(string actionName) 
{  TempData["actionName"] = actionName;
   View("urViewName").ExecuteResult(this.ControllerContext);
}

Upvotes: 0

tvanfosson
tvanfosson

Reputation: 532445

Use the ViewContext and look at the RouteData collection to extract both the controller and action elements. But I think setting some data variable that indicates the application context (e.g., "editmode" or "error") rather than controller/action reduces the coupling between your views and controllers.

Upvotes: 89

Christian Dalager
Christian Dalager

Reputation: 6643

In the RC you can also extract route data like the action method name like this

ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider["action"].RawValue
ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider["controller"].RawValue
ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider["id"].RawValue

Update for MVC 3

ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("action").RawValue
ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("controller").RawValue
ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("id").RawValue

Update for MVC 4

ViewContext.Controller.RouteData.Values["action"]
ViewContext.Controller.RouteData.Values["controller"]
ViewContext.Controller.RouteData.Values["id"]

Update for MVC 4.5

ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"]
ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"]
ViewContext.RouteData.Values["id"]

Upvotes: 483

kiewic
kiewic

Reputation: 16390

I am using ASP.NET MVC 4, and this what worked for me:

ControllerContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("controller").RawValue
ControllerContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("action").RawValue

Upvotes: 2

RunnerRick
RunnerRick

Reputation: 969

Extending Dale Ragan's answer, his example for reuse, create an ApplicationController class which derives from Controller, and in turn have all your other controllers derive from that ApplicationController class rather than Controller.

Example: 

public class MyCustomApplicationController : Controller {}

public class HomeController : MyCustomApplicationController {}

On your new ApplicationController create a property named ExecutingAction with this signature:

protected ActionDescriptor ExecutingAction { get; set; }

And then in the OnActionExecuting method (from Dale Ragan's answer), simply assign the ActionDescriptor to this property and you can access it whenever you need it in any of your controllers.

string currentActionName = this.ExecutingAction.ActionName;

Upvotes: 0

Viacheslav Smityukh
Viacheslav Smityukh

Reputation: 5833

You can get these data from RouteData of a ViewContext

ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"]
ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"]

Upvotes: 16

Michael Vashchinsky
Michael Vashchinsky

Reputation: 2137

I saw different answers and came up with a class helper:

using System;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace MyMvcApp.Helpers {
    public class LocationHelper {
        public static bool IsCurrentControllerAndAction(string controllerName, string actionName, ViewContext viewContext) {
            bool result = false;
            string normalizedControllerName = controllerName.EndsWith("Controller") ? controllerName : String.Format("{0}Controller", controllerName);

            if(viewContext == null) return false;
            if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(actionName)) return false;

            if (viewContext.Controller.GetType().Name.Equals(normalizedControllerName, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase) &&
                viewContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("action").AttemptedValue.Equals(actionName, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase)) {
                result = true;
            }

            return result;
        }
    }
}

So in View (or master/layout) you can use it like so (Razor syntax):

            <div id="menucontainer">

                <ul id="menu">
                    <li @if(MyMvcApp.Helpers.LocationHelper.IsCurrentControllerAndAction("home", "index", ViewContext)) {
                            @:class="selected"
                        }>@Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home")</li>
                    <li @if(MyMvcApp.Helpers.LocationHelper.IsCurrentControllerAndAction("account","logon", ViewContext)) {
                            @:class="selected"
                        }>@Html.ActionLink("Logon", "Logon", "Account")</li>
                    <li @if(MyMvcApp.Helpers.LocationHelper.IsCurrentControllerAndAction("home","about", ViewContext)) {
                            @:class="selected"
                        }>@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home")</li>
                </ul>

            </div>

Hope it helps.

Upvotes: 18

Reputation:

I vote for this 2:

string currentActionName = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("action");

and

string currentViewName = ((WebFormView)ViewContext.View).ViewPath;

You can retrive both physical name of current view and action that triggered it. It can be usefull in partial *.acmx pages to determine host container.

Upvotes: 6

Dale Ragan
Dale Ragan

Reputation: 18270

I know this is an older question, but I saw it and I thought you might be interested in an alternative version than letting your view handle retrieving the data it needs to do it's job.

An easier way in my opinion would be to override the OnActionExecuting method. You are passed the ActionExecutingContext that contains the ActionDescriptor member which you can use to obtain the information you are looking for, which is the ActionName and you can also reach the ControllerDescriptor and it contains the ControllerName.

protected override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{
    ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor = filterContext.ActionDescriptor;
    string actionName = actionDescriptor.ActionName;
    string controllerName = actionDescriptor.ControllerDescriptor.ControllerName;
    // Now that you have the values, set them somewhere and pass them down with your ViewModel
    // This will keep your view cleaner and the controller will take care of everything that the view needs to do it's job.
}

Hope this helps. If anything, at least it will show an alternative for anybody else that comes by your question.

Upvotes: 41

tsquillario
tsquillario

Reputation: 997

To get the current Id on a View:

ViewContext.RouteData.Values["id"].ToString()

To get the current controller:

ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString()

Upvotes: 61

terjetyl
terjetyl

Reputation: 9565

In MVC you should provide the View with all data, not let the View collect its own data so what you can do is to set the CSS class in your controller action.

ViewData["CssClass"] = "bold";

and pick out this value from your ViewData in your View

Upvotes: 10

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