Get MultiView like behavior with ASP.NET MVC

Question

I am trying to build a generic form submission system using ASP.NET MVC. I'd like to make it as easy as possible to create forms with a form view and a "success" view. Using the WebForms method, this was easy and could be accomplished with templates or multiviews. With MVC, I'm a bit stuck.

Here's what I'd like to emulate:

<% if (formNotSubmitted) { %>
    <% Html.BeginForm(...); %>
        <%= Html.TextBox("FirstName") %>
        <%= Html.TextBox("LastName") %>
        <input id='submit' type='submit' value='Submit' />
        <%= Html.ValidationSummary %>
    <% Html.EndForm(); %>
<% } else { %>
    <p>Thank you!</p>
    <p><img src='thanks.jpg' /></p>
    <p>Other items here maybe.</p>
<% } %>

Ideally, I'd like to use Ajax, but also have it work with a straight POST. I'd also like to wrap this somehow to avoid the "if..else" code. What makes this harder than a typical ASP.NET MVC Ajax form is that the controller won't know what the success message/content is supposed to be. Most demos I've seen have the controller send back a message, but I need that code in the view.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Answer 1

You could it with the Controller

[AcceptVerbs("GET")]
public ActionResult Signup( )
{
    // somecode that builds an html string
        ViewData["form"] = htmlStringYouBuilt;
}

[AcceptVerbs("POST")]
public ActionResult Login( string username, string password )
{
     // etc
}

then in the view
<%= ViewData["form"] %>

I've been able to use this technique successfully.