ASP.NET MVC: Is it possible to get the controllername inside of a view?

Question

I have this helper in my view:

<%= Html.StandardOverlayCreateButton<EmployeeController>()%>

It creates the following HTML:

<a rel="#overlay" href="/Employee/Create">
<button type="button">
Create</button>
</a>

I do not like this anyway.

Any suggestions :) ?

I also askmyself when to create html helper extension and when just write the pure HTML code?

Answer 1

In this case I think the helper is warranted as the amount of HTML "code" you're replacing is significant and conceptually a single entity, i.e., a styled "button". You can get access to the controller, however, in the view by using the ViewContext property on the ViewPage.

Answer 2

I don't see why specifiying the controller in the HTML helper function isn't great. It will help with refactoring as it's strongly typed and it'll help get intellisense.

As for the extension / write html argument ... if you are going to use the same functionality again and again, write the HTML helper extension method :-)

Hope this helps.