Return Razor partial view using JSON (ASP MVC 3)

Question

In MVC 2 with the regular view engine i could return a ascx partial view as string through return Json()

But with the new Razor .cshtml views I can not figure out how to do this. I keep getting Type 'ASP.CustomerForm_cshtml' does not inherit from 'System.Web.UI.UserControl'.

The partial view inherits from System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage<T> and another error pops up if I inherit from System.Web.UI.UserControl<T> as the first error says.

Any thoughts on how to fix this using ASP MVC 3 and Razor view engine?

This is my ControlToString function:

    private string ControlToString(string controlPath, object model)
    {
        ViewPage page = new ViewPage();
        ViewUserControl ctl = (ViewUserControl)page.LoadControl(controlPath);
        page.Controls.Add(ctl);
        page.ViewData.Model = model;
        page.ViewContext = new ViewContext();
        System.IO.StringWriter writer = new System.IO.StringWriter();
        System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.Execute(page, writer, false);
        string outputToReturn = writer.ToString();
        writer.Close();
        //return this.Json(outputToReturn.Trim());
        return outputToReturn.Trim();
    }

Buildstarted · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-12 19:54:38Z

6

This might help you as I've written it off the top of my head without testing it other than to validate it returns the rendered cshtml file.

I assumed this was a method in a Controller.

private string ControlToString(string controlPath, object model) {
    CshtmlView control = new CshtmlView(controlPath);

    HtmlTextWriter writer = new HtmlTextWriter(new System.IO.StringWriter());
    control.Render(new ViewContext(this.ControllerContext, control, this.ViewData, this.TempData, writer), writer);

    string value = ((StringWriter)writer.InnerWriter).ToString();

    return value;
}

answered Sep 12, 2010 at 19:54

Buildstarted

26.7k10 gold badges88 silver badges96 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Martin at Mennt Over a year ago

Thank you, it works. I get the view as a string. But the model is not beeing taken care of anywhere in your code. I tried to add the model as a parameter in CshtmlView() but it did not take model as a parameter. Any thoughts?

Martin at Mennt Over a year ago

i worked it out, you have to add this.ViewData.Model = model; in your code, then it works :D

Martin at Mennt · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-24 16:07:57Z

5

This is the MVC 3 Beta version of the code:

    private string ControlToString(string controlPath, object model)
    {
        //CshtmlView control = new CshtmlView(controlPath);
        RazorView control = new RazorView(this.ControllerContext, controlPath, null, false, null);

        this.ViewData.Model = model;

        HtmlTextWriter writer = new HtmlTextWriter(new System.IO.StringWriter());
        control.Render(new ViewContext(this.ControllerContext, control, this.ViewData, this.TempData, writer), writer);

        string value = ((StringWriter)writer.InnerWriter).ToString();

        return value;
    }

answered Oct 24, 2010 at 16:07

Martin at Mennt

5,73714 gold badges65 silver badges90 bronze badges

2 Comments

codedog Over a year ago

Thanks for that - everything seems ok except for one thing I still have not figured out - value of controlPath. How is the path worked out in MVC? Is it physical filesystem path?

codedog Over a year ago

Nevermind...it seems "~/Views/blah/blah.cshtml" did the trick :o)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Return Razor partial view using JSON (ASP MVC 3)

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related