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ASP.NET MVC2: modifying master css property depending on query string parameter

Answer 1

+1 A:

A helper method looks like a good place:

public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
{
    public static string GetCss(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper)
    {
        // read some request parameter
        // here you also have access to route data so the
        // parameter could be part of your custom routes as well
        var foo = htmlHelper.ViewContext.HttpContext.Request["foo"];

        // based on the value of this parameter 
        // return the appropriate CSS class
        return (foo == "bar") ? "barClass" : "fooClass";
    }
}

And somewhere in your master page:

<body class="<%= Html.GetCss() %>">

Or if you are always going to apply it to the body tag only it might be more appropriate to do this in order to reduce the tag soup:

public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
{
    public static MvcHtmlString StartBody(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper)
    {
        var body = new TagBuilder("body");
        var foo = htmlHelper.ViewContext.HttpContext.Request["foo"];
        var bodyClass = (foo == "bar") ? "barClass" : "fooClass";
        body.AddCssClass(bodyClass);
        return MvcHtmlString.Create(body.ToString(TagRenderMode.StartTag));
    }
}

and in your master page at the place of the body tag:

<%= Html.StartBody() %>

Darin Dimitrov 2010-09-17 07:44:31

Thanks. It seems nice.

Sylvain 2010-09-17 08:02:51

Answer 2

A:

I can think of two solutions to this:

Derive your controllers from one controller base and set the ViewData parameter there depending on posted Form values
Don't use ViewData at all, but simply look for the form value in the view (using HttpContext.Current)

The second method violates the MVC pattern. IMO it is still acceptable in some scenarios, for example I am using this approach to highlight the currently selected item in a navigation menu.

Adrian Grigore 2010-09-17 07:45:59

Hello Adrian, about #1, I considered it but I read that Request object was not accessible (I have not tried so far) in base controller. #2 is the easiest way, I agree. But as you said, I would like to avoid violating MVC pattern (if possible). Thanks.

Sylvain 2010-09-17 07:57:44

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ASP.NET MVC2: modifying master css property depending on query string parameter

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