Populating the model for a shared view, embedding a shared view within another view

Question

Hi guys,

I'm trying to embed a small view snippet that steps through a model fragment that works fine when I embed it in a single controller and pass it to a view like so;

Controller: return View(_entities.formTemplate.ToList());

View:

http://www.pastie.org/666366

The thing is that I want to be able to embed this particular select box in more than just this single action / view, from the googling I've been doing this appears that it should go into a shared view, but I'm not clear then on how I could populate the model within that view from the controller? (or maybe I'm completely missing the purpose for shared views?)

In the other MVC framework I'm accustomed to working with there is the concept of a filter where you can call code before or after any action and mod the model as it passes the controller and goes to the view, is such a thing possible in .net mvc?

Any assistance appreciated.

Answer 1

You'll want to use the HtmlHelper method DropDownList() in order to create a input:

<%= Html.DropDownList("id", new SelectList(formBuilder, "ID", "Name")) %>

Answer 2

You probably want to use a ViewUserControl here.

You have a couple of options if you go that route. If it's model data that is easily available, recreate it at the call site of your RenderPartial like so:

<%=Html.RenderPartial("ViewName", new ModelData())%>

If it's data that is dependent on the current model data, then you'll need to pass that data somehow to your partial view.

ASP.Net MVC also has the concept of before/after controller actions. You decorate your controller method with an Attribute that derives from ActionFilterAttribute. In there, you have access to OnActionExecuting and OnActionExecuted.