Question

is there a way in ASP.NET MVC(2) to do something like that:

<table>
    <tr>
        <% Model.Pager.TemplateNextPage = { %>
            <li><a href={link-next-page}>Next</a></li>
        <% } %>
        <% Model.Pager.TemplatePageNumber = { %>
            <li><a href={link-page-number}>{number}</a></li>
        <% } %>
        <% Model.Pager.TemplatePageNumberActive = { %>
            <li>{number}</li>
        <% } %>
    </tr>
</table>

the general idea is to enable designers to specify templates.

Answer 1

Not like that no. The code betweeen “%>” and “<%” e.g.

<% Model.Pager.TemplateNextPage = { %>
  <li><a href={link-next-page}>Next</a></li>
<% } %>

… will translate to …

Model.Pager.TemplateNextPage = {;
Response.Write("<li><a href={link-next-page}>Next</a></li>");
};

when compiled (ignoring the whitespace in the example). So it does not really work.

What you can do however, is use Asp.Net WebForms controls and create a custom one. It will work within Asp.Net MVC page. Not all features work (e.g. related to form postback), but enough to do what you want.

E.g. a table control is like this:

<asp:Table runat="server">
    <asp:TableFooterRow>
        <asp:TableCell>foo</asp:TableCell>
        <asp:TableCell>faa</asp:TableCell>
    </asp:TableFooterRow>
</asp:Table>

You could extend that – or create a control from scratch allowing you to create your own TemplateNextPage etc.

…but this is not Asp.Net MVC way – it is the old Asp.Net WebForms way. It just works within Asp.Net MVC pages.

The other option you have is to create your own template engine, but that’s quite a lot of work and I assume the intellisense part is very important to you so it would screw that as well.