Question

I’m trying to get the master page changed for all my aspx pages. For some reason I’m unable to detect when this function is called for a ascx page instead. Any help in correting this would be appreciated.

protected override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
{
    var action = filterContext.Result as ViewResult;
    if (action != null && action.MasterName != "" && Request.IsAjaxRequest())
    {
        action.MasterName = "Ajax";
    }
    base.OnActionExecuted(filterContext);
}

Answer 1

If you’re still keen on changing the master page based on the fact whether your request is ajax or not – I just accidentally stumbled on exactly the thing you were looking for:

http://devlicio.us/blogs/sergio_pereira/archive/2008/12/05/reusing-views-in-asp-net-mvc-for-ajax-updates.aspx

Basically, instead of overriging the OnActionExecuting method in the BaseController – override the View method! You get exactly the thing you want, with a method that seems specifically designed for it 🙂

protected override ViewResult View(string viewName, string masterName, object model)
{
    return base.View(viewName, Request.IsAjaxRequest() ? "Empty" : masterName, model);
}