Question

If I have a base controller e.g. StaffBaseController can I cause any ViewResult result returned to have a default Layout page? e.g StaffLayout.cshtml. I know I can use a _viewstart file in the folder structure to set a default layout. Just wondered if I could set it on my base controller class.

If so how do I do it? Would it be possible to override the default in certain situations?

Thanks

Graeme

Answer 1

Greame,

you can try something like this in your base controller (this is taken from an aspx project but should be tweakable for razor):

protected override ViewResult View(string viewName, string masterName, 
    object model)
{

    // we share some views that aren't partialviews
    // therefore, we have to ensure that the Shareholder view
    // is ALWAYS attached to the logged in user if they aren't an admin user
    bool userIsAdmin = IsAuthorised(new[] { "Admin" });

    if (!userIsAdmin && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(
        ControllerContext.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name))
    {
        masterName = "Shareholder";
    }

    return base.View(viewName, masterName, model);
}

so in that example, the initially defined master template name (Site.Master) value gets changed to ‘Shareholder’ (Shareholder.Master) if the user isn’t an admin user.