How can I know which Area my MVC controller action is being called in?

Question

I want to know how, from a controller action, I could identify the area in which the controller is in via the MVC framework (I mean, without making all controllers in a given area inherit from a base controller with that info).

I'm particularly interested in the case of child actions (controller actions rendered via RenderAction), the area of the calling parent controller for instance.

I'm using ASP .NET MVC 2.0 RTM

Answer 1

You can get it from the RouteData dictionary that is a member of your ControllerContext.

In your controller method (this is tested code):

string area = this.DataContext.RouteData.DataTokens["Area"].ToString();

The route that I am using looks like this:

public override void RegisterArea(AreaRegistrationContext context)
{
    context.MapRoute(
        "MyRoute",
        MyArea/{controller}/{action}/{id},
        new {controller = "MyController", Action="Index" }
    );
}

Note that, because my area routes are more specific than my root routes (in global.asax) I am registering my area routes first.

You should check your routes using Phil Haack's route debugger, and make sure that your Url is hitting the correct route.