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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-30T20:29:30+00:00

I have got this method in my controller. public string GetTime(string zone) { DateTime

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I have got this method in my controller.

 public string GetTime(string zone)
    {
        DateTime time = DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(offsets[zone]);
        return string.Format("<div>The time in {0} is {1:h:MM:ss tt}</div>", zone.ToUpper(), time);
    }

    private Dictionary<string, int> offsets = new Dictionary<string, int> { { "utc", 0 }, { "bst", 1 }, { "mdt", -6 }};

This is my html:

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Statistics";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}

<html>
<head runat="server">
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftAjax.js")"
    type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcAjax.js")" 
    type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <h2>
        Statistics</h2>
    <h2>
        What time is it?</h2>
    <p>
        Show me the time in:<br />
        @Ajax.ActionLink("UTC", "GetTime", new { zone = "utc" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })<br />
        @Ajax.ActionLink("BST", "GetTime", new { zone = "bst" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })
        <br />
        @Ajax.ActionLink("MDT", "GetTime", new { zone = "mdt" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })
        <br />
    </p>
    <div id="myResults" style="border: 2px dotted red; padding: .5em;">
        Results will appear here
    </div>
    <p>
        This page was generated at @DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("h:MM:ss tt") (UTC)
    </p>
</body>
</html>

The problem is that the time doesnt appear in the div element..but the time presented on a blank page (meaning there is a postback instead of an ajax call). Why does that happen?

This is how the html of the links loaded look like:

    <script src="../../Scripts/jquery-1.5.1-vsdoc.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script src="/Scripts/jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.js" type="text/javascript"></script> 

<script src="/Scripts/MicrosoftAjax.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<script src="/Scripts/MicrosoftMvcAjax.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You have included a Layout but in your view, you have an entire <html> document and I suppose that you end up with some very broken HTML at the end.

    Here’s how your view could look like if you don’t want to use a layout:

    @{
    ViewBag.Title = "Statistics";
    // Explicitly specify that we don't use any layout because
    // this view already contains the entire html document
    Layout = null;
}

<html>
<head>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-1.5.1.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="@Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.unobtrusive-ajax.js")" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <h2>
        Statistics</h2>
    <h2>
        What time is it?</h2>
    <p>
        Show me the time in:<br />
        @Ajax.ActionLink("UTC", "GetTime", new { zone = "utc" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })<br />
        @Ajax.ActionLink("BST", "GetTime", new { zone = "bst" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })
        <br />
        @Ajax.ActionLink("MDT", "GetTime", new { zone = "mdt" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })
        <br />
    </p>
    <div id="myResults" style="border: 2px dotted red; padding: .5em;">
        Results will appear here
    </div>
    <p>
        This page was generated at @DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("h:MM:ss tt") (UTC)
    </p>
</body>
</html>

    The only scripts you need is jquery and jquery.unobtrusive-ajax. Also don’t use any runat="server" attributes in razor.

    and if you want to use the layout:

    @{
    ViewBag.Title = "Statistics";
}

<h2>
    Statistics</h2>
<h2>
    What time is it?</h2>
<p>
    Show me the time in:<br />
    @Ajax.ActionLink("UTC", "GetTime", new { zone = "utc" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })<br />
    @Ajax.ActionLink("BST", "GetTime", new { zone = "bst" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })
    <br />
    @Ajax.ActionLink("MDT", "GetTime", new { zone = "mdt" }, new AjaxOptions { UpdateTargetId = "myResults" })
    <br />
</p>
<div id="myResults" style="border: 2px dotted red; padding: .5em;">
    Results will appear here
</div>
<p>
    This page was generated at @DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("h:MM:ss tt") (UTC)
</p>

    Once again don’t forget the 2 scripts in your layout.

    And a final remark: by convention all controller actions should return ActionResults, so:

    public string GetTime(string zone)
{
    DateTime time = DateTime.UtcNow.AddHours(offsets[zone]);
    return Content(string.Format("<div>The time in {0} is {1:h:MM:ss tt}</div>", zone.ToUpper(), time));
}

    Finally make sure you don’t use any Microsoft*.js script in your pages. Those are obsolete.

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