Question

For setting that I use Html helper method which is not the best imo, because I use static field.

public enum CurrentState
{
    BeforeCurrent,
    AfterCurrent
}

public static CurrentState currentState = CurrentState.BeforeCurrent;

public static MvcHtmlString ActiveActionLink(this HtmlHelper helper, string linkText, string actionName, string controllerName, bool checkAction = true)
{
    string currentAction = helper.ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("action");
    string currentController = helper.ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("controller");

    if ((controllerName == currentController) && checkAction && (actionName == "Index"))
    {
        currentState = CurrentState.BeforeCurrent;
    }

    if ((controllerName == currentController) && checkAction && (actionName != currentAction))
    {
        if (currentState == CurrentState.BeforeCurrent)
        {
            return helper.ActionLink(linkText, actionName, controllerName, null, new { @class = "beforeCurrent" });
        }
        else if (currentState == CurrentState.AfterCurrent)
        {
            return helper.ActionLink(linkText, actionName, controllerName, null, new { @class = "afterCurrent" });
        }
    }

    if ((controllerName == currentController) && (!checkAction || (actionName == currentAction)))
    {
        currentState = CurrentState.AfterCurrent;
        return helper.ActionLink(linkText, actionName, controllerName, null, new { @class = "current" });
    }

    return helper.ActionLink(linkText, actionName, controllerName);
}

I have two levels of menus and that’s why I use checkAction parameter:

• main menu – @Html.ActiveActionLink(Resources.Global.mainMenuBoard, “Index”, “Board”, checkAction: false)
• side menu – @Html.ActiveActionLink(@Resources.Global.managementOverview, “Index”, “Management”)

and in side menu I need to know if it’s after and before current (overlapping items…).

Is it a way to improve that?
Additionally I must say that I use javascript also for that but it must work also for javascript disabled.

Answer 1

I finally solve that by generating whole menu in one helper:

public class Link
{
    public string LinkText { get; set; }
    public string ActionName { get; set; }
}

public static List<MvcHtmlString> SubMenuLinks(this HtmlHelper helper, string controllerName, List<Link> links)
{
    List<MvcHtmlString> menuElements = new List<MvcHtmlString>();
    string actualCssClass = "beforeCurrent";

    string currentAction = helper.ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("action");
    string currentController = helper.ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("controller");

    foreach (Link link in links)
    {
        if (controllerName == currentController && link.ActionName == currentAction)
        {
            menuElements.Add(helper.ActionLink(link.LinkText, link.ActionName, controllerName, null, new { @class = "current" }));
            actualCssClass = "afterCurrent";
        }
        else
        {
            menuElements.Add(helper.ActionLink(link.LinkText, link.ActionName, controllerName, null, new { @class = actualCssClass }));
        }
    }

    return menuElements;
}

and in view:

@{
    List<MvcHtmlString> actionMenu = Html.SubMenuLinks("Manager", new List<Link>()
    {
        new Link() { LinkText = "linkText", ActionName = "actionName" },
        new Link() { LinkText = "linkText2", ActionName = "actionName2" }
    });
}
@section SideMenu
{
    @for (int i = 0; i < actionMenu.Count; i++) 
    { 
        <li id="menu@(i)">@actionMenu.ElementAt(i)</li>
    }
}

Not perfect, but it works at least.