Question

I have a button in Layout page, which is supposed to navigate between different views.

<a id="next" href="/Navigation?CurrentPage=@ViewBag.CurrentPage">Next</a>

I populate ViewBag.CurrentPage value in ViewModel of each page.

Navigation controller intercepts anchor click in following controller –

public class NavigationController : Controller
{
    public void Index(string CurrentPage)
    {
        PageType currentPageEnum = (PageType)Enum.Parse(typeof(PageType), CurrentPage);
        PageType nextPageEnum = currentPageEnum + 1;
        RedirectToAction(nextPageEnum.ToString());            
    }
}

Enum contains ActionNames in sequential order, so just increment currentPageEnum value to find next page.

enum PageType
{
    Page1,
    Page2
}

Each action has a mapping route in Global.asax.cs as below –

routes.MapRoute("Page1", "Page1", new { controller="controller1", action="Page1"});
routes.MapRoute("Page2", "Page2", new { controller="controller2", action="Page2"});

Question:
I have not been able to redirect to other controllers with this code-

RedirectToAction(nextPageEnum.ToString()); 

Request terminates without redirect.

1. What info am I missing.
2. Is there a better efficient way to navigate
   between diffrent views, in ASP MVC

Thanks!

Answer 1

Add a return statement and make the function return something.

public class NavigationController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index(string CurrentPage)
    {
        PageType currentPageEnum = (PageType)Enum.Parse(typeof(PageType), CurrentPage);
        PageType nextPageEnum = currentPageEnum + 1;
        return RedirectToAction(nextPageEnum.ToString());            
    }
}

And since you refer to a mapped route name and not an action I believe you need RedirectToRoute instead of RedirectToAction like in this code:

public class NavigationController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index(string CurrentPage)
    {
        PageType currentPageEnum = (PageType)Enum.Parse(typeof(PageType), CurrentPage);
        PageType nextPageEnum = currentPageEnum + 1;
        return RedirectToRoute(nextPageEnum.ToString());            
    }
}

But I would suggest that the best way to navigate in an MVC environment from the (razor)view is like this:

<div>
    @Html.ActionLink(string linkText, string actionName)
</div>

If the action is in the same controller. If not use this overload:

<div>
    @Html.ActionLink(string linkText, string actionName, string controllerName)
</div>