First here is my error:
The type or namespace name ‘Web’ could not be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)
public class _Page_Plugins_Views_Web_Plugins_Controls_Controls_Menu_cshtml : System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage<Web.Plugins.Controls.Models.MenuModel> {
I am building a pluggable MVC 3.0 Razor website using MEF and strongly-typed views. I am getting the plugins to work just fine until I get to the building of the menu. The Menu is a plugin of its own. I have used http://www.thegecko.org/index.php/2010/06/pluggable-mvc-2-0-using-mef-and-strongly-typed-views/comment-page-1/#comment-7130. So far all is well like I mentioned but when I go to render the menu in the layout it pops an error (see it above).
Below is the code that gets this going. Why is it trying to render a view and not just the partial?
My Controller:
[HandleError]
[ControllerMetaData("Controls")]
[Export(typeof(IController)), PartCreationPolicy(CreationPolicy.NonShared)]
public class ControlsController : MefController
{
public virtual ActionResult Menu()
{
var builder = new MenuModelBuilder(Context.MenuContainer);
ViewData.Model = builder.BuildModel();
return PartialView();
}
}
My _Layout.cshtml
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>@ViewBag.Title</title>
<link href="@Url.Content("~/Content/Web.Plugins.Presentation/Site.css")" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/Web.Plugins.Presentation/jquery-1.5.1.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/Web.Plugins.Presentation/modernizr-1.7.min.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="page">
<header>
<div id="title">
<h1>My MVC Application</h1>
</div>
<div id="logindisplay">
@Html.Partial("_LogOnPartial")
</div>
<nav>
<ul id="menu">
@*<li>@Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home")</li>
<li>@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home")</li>*@
@{
Html.Action("Menu", "Controls");
}
</ul>
</nav>
</header>
<section id="main">
@RenderBody()
</section>
<footer>
</footer>
</div>
My MefViewEngine.cs
public class MefViewEngine : RazorViewEngine
{
private readonly string _defaultMaster;
public MefViewEngine(string pluginPath, IEnumerable<IPluginRegistration> plugins, string defaultMaster)
{
_defaultMaster = defaultMaster;
CreateViewLocations(pluginPath, plugins);
}
public override ViewEngineResult FindView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string viewName, string masterName, bool useCache)
{
// Set default master page
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(masterName) && !controllerContext.IsChildAction)
{
masterName = _defaultMaster;
}
// Ensure name is correct
if (masterName.ToLowerInvariant().EndsWith(".cshtml"))
{
masterName = masterName.ToLowerInvariant().Replace(".cshtml", string.Empty);
}
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(masterName))
{
return base.FindPartialView(controllerContext, viewName, useCache);
//masterName = _defaultMaster;
}
return base.FindView(controllerContext, viewName, masterName, useCache);
}
protected override IView CreateView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string viewPath, string masterPath)
{
// If view isn't .aspx, remove master page
if (!viewPath.ToLowerInvariant().EndsWith(".cshtml"))
{
masterPath = string.Empty;
}
var nameSpace = controllerContext.Controller.GetType().Namespace;
//return base.CreateView(controllerContext, viewPath.Replace("%1", nameSpace), masterPath.Replace("%1", nameSpace));
return base.CreateView(controllerContext, viewPath, masterPath);
}
#region Helper Methods
private void CreateViewLocations(string pluginPath, IEnumerable<IPluginRegistration> plugins)
{
IList<string> viewLocations = new List<string>();
IList<string> masterLocations = new List<string>();
string pluginLocation;
foreach (IPluginRegistration plugin in plugins)
{
pluginLocation = string.Format("~/{0}/Views/{1}/", pluginPath, plugin.AssemblyName);
AddViewLocation(viewLocations, pluginLocation);
AddMasterLocation(masterLocations, pluginLocation);
}
pluginLocation = "~/Views/";
AddViewLocation(viewLocations, pluginLocation);
ViewLocationFormats = viewLocations.ToArray();
PartialViewLocationFormats = viewLocations.ToArray();
MasterLocationFormats = masterLocations.ToArray();
AreaViewLocationFormats = new[] {
"~/" + pluginPath + "/Views/{2}/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
"~/" + pluginPath + "/Views/{2}/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
"~/" + pluginPath + "/Views/{2}/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
"~/" + pluginPath + "/Views/{2}/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
};
AreaPartialViewLocationFormats = AreaViewLocationFormats;
AreaMasterLocationFormats = new[] {
"~/" + pluginPath + "/Views/{2}/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
"~/" + pluginPath + "/Views/{2}/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
};
}
private static void AddViewLocation(IList<string> viewLocations, string pluginLocation)
{
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "{1}/{0}.cshtml");
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "{1}/{0}.cshtml");
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "Shared/{0}.cshtml");
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "Controls/{0}.cshtml");
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "Shared/{0}.cshtml");
}
private static void AddMasterLocation(IList<string> viewLocations, string pluginLocation)
{
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "{0}.cshtml");
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "{1}/{0}.cshtml");
viewLocations.Add(pluginLocation + "Shared/{0}.cshtml");
}
#endregion
}
I don’t know about MEF but from the little I know about MVC, shouldn’t you be returning a PartialViewResult rather than an Action result?