Determining the name of current view within a partial view in ASP.NET MVC

Question

I have a partial view in my test ASP.NET MVC application. This view is responsible to display application menu buttons.

I want to change the color of button which is currently active page. Currently I have written something like:

<ul id="menu">
    <% var activeClass = (string)(ViewData["currentPage"]) == "Home" ? "activeMenuButton" : ""; %>    
    <li><%= Html.ActionLink ("Home", "Index", "Home", new { @class = activeClass })%></li>

    <% activeClass = (string)(ViewData["currentPage"]) == "About" ? "activeMenuButton" : ""; %>    
    <li><%= Html.ActionLink ("About", "About", "Home", new { @class = activeClass })%></li>
</ul>

And set the view data in controller actions:

//in home action
ViewData["currentPage"] = "Home";

//in About action
ViewData["currentPage"] = "About";

This works but I have to modify every controller action. Is there any better method of automatically detecting the view and somehow change the partial view code to change the color accordingly.

Answer 1

I think you dont need ViewData["currentPage"]. Use ViewContext.RouteData.Values instead:

• SO - Getting the name of the controller and action method in the view in ASP.Net MVC

Try this:

<ul id="menu">
    <% var activeClass = (ViewContext.RouteData.Values["Controller"] == "Home"
        && ViewContext.RouteData.Values["Action"] == "Home") ? "activeMenuButton" : ""; %>

    <li><%= Html.ActionLink ("Home", "Index", "Home", new { @class = activeClass })%></li>

    <% activeClass = (ViewContext.RouteData.Values["Controller"] == "Home"
        && ViewContext.RouteData.Values["Action"] == "About") ? "activeMenuButton" : ""; %>

    <li><%= Html.ActionLink ("About", "About", "Home", new { @class = activeClass })%></li>
</ul>