Using asp.net mvc view in asp.net control

Question

Following code adds an asp.net webforms control to my content placeholder in webforms application:

var someControl = (System.Web.UI.UserControl)LoadControl("~/serverPath/" + ControlName + ".ascx");
phContentControls.Controls.Add(someControl);

So i'm wondering is there any way i can add rendered asp.net mvc view to my control?

omg, wtf i've just asked :D

Answer 1

You could try doing something like the following:

This is an MvcUtility Class I use when I would like to render PartialViews or ChildActions in a Webforms Page, I don't think I have used it in a UserControl however.

Not sure what MVC version you are using but I know this works with MVC 3 and Razor Views.

public static class MvcUtility
{
        public static void RenderPartial(string partialViewName, object model)
        {
            // Get the HttpContext
            HttpContextBase httpContextBase = new HttpContextWrapper(HttpContext.Current);
            // Build the route data, pointing to the Some controller
            RouteData routeData = new RouteData();
            routeData.Values.Add("controller", typeof(Controller).Name);
            // Create the controller context
            ControllerContext controllerContext = new ControllerContext(new RequestContext(httpContextBase, routeData), new Controller());
            // Find the partial view
            IView view = FindPartialView(controllerContext, partialViewName);
            // create the view context and pass in the model
            ViewContext viewContext = new ViewContext(controllerContext, view, new ViewDataDictionary { Model = model }, new TempDataDictionary(), httpContextBase.Response.Output);
            // finally, render the view
            view.Render(viewContext, httpContextBase.Response.Output);
        }

        private static IView FindPartialView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string partialViewName)
        {
            // try to find the partial view
            ViewEngineResult result = ViewEngines.Engines.FindPartialView(controllerContext, partialViewName);
            if (result.View != null)
            {
                return result.View;
            }
            // wasn't found - construct error message
            StringBuilder locationsText = new StringBuilder();
            foreach (string location in result.SearchedLocations)
            {
                locationsText.AppendLine();
                locationsText.Append(location);
            }
            throw new InvalidOperationException(String.Format("Partial view {0} not found. Locations Searched: {1}", partialViewName, locationsText));
        }

        public static void RenderAction(string controllerName, string actionName, object routeValues)
        {
            RenderPartial("RenderActionUtil", new RenderActionVM() { ControllerName = controllerName, ActionName = actionName, RouteValues = routeValues });
        }
    }

To render a ChildAction you will need a partial view in the Shared MVC Views Folder:

@model YourNamespace.RenderActionVM

@{
    Html.RenderAction(Model.ActionName, Model.ControllerName, Model.RouteValues);
}

And the View Model:

public class RenderActionVM
{
    public string ControllerName { get; set; }
    public string ActionName { get; set; }
    public object RouteValues { get; set; }
}

And finally in your webforms page call like this:

<% MvcUtility.RenderPartial("_SomePartial", null); %> 

<% MvcUtility.RenderAction("SomeController", "SomeAction", new { accountID = Request.QueryString["id"], dateTime = DateTime.Now }); %>