Question

I have the following navigation html/code now duplicated across several Views:

<ul class="topNav">
    <li class="selected">@Html.ActionLink("Dashboard", "Dashboard", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
    <li>@Html.ActionLink("Stats", "Stats", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
    <li>@Html.ActionLink("Questions", "Questions", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
    <li>@Html.ActionLink("Answers", "Answers", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
    <li>@Html.ActionLink("Contacts", "Contacts", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
</ul>

Of course in each View the class="selected" of the li is changed. Is there an easy way to place this block of code in a Partial View or Layout View?

Also, must I really use ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") to get to the id parameter of the controller or is there a simpler way?

Answer 1

Here are two ways to handle that.

1. If you want a really reusable (Application independ solution) you should create a HtmlHelper Method
   Creating Custom HTML Helpers

2. If you need it just in your Application consider doing something like that.

   public static class ControllerHelper
   {
   /// <summary>
   /// Checks the current action via RouteData
   /// </summary>
   /// <param name="helper">The HtmlHelper object to extend</param>
   /// <param name="actionName">The Action</param>
   /// <param name="controllerName">The Controller</param>
   /// <returns>Boolean</returns>
   public static bool IsCurrentAction(this HtmlHelper helper, string actionName, string controllerName)
   {
       string currentControllerName = (string)helper.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"];
       string currentActionName = (string)helper.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"];
   
       if (currentControllerName.Equals(controllerName, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase) && currentActionName.Equals(actionName, StringComparison.CurrentCultureIgnoreCase))
           return true;
   
       return false;
   
   }
   }
   
   
   <ul class="topNav">
     <li @if(Html.IsCurrentAction("DashBoard", "DashBoard")) { <text>class="selected"</text> }>@Html.ActionLink("Dashboard", "Dashboard", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
     <li>@if(Html.IsCurrentAction("Stats", "Stats")) { <text>class="selected"</text> }>@Html.ActionLink("Stats", "Stats", new { id = ViewContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("id") })</li>
   
   // ....
   </ul>
   

Please tell me if you want to implement the first approach, i will provide more help

hope this helps