[asp.net-mvc] Html.ActionLink as a button or an image, not a link

In the latest (RC1) release of ASP.NET MVC, how do I get Html.ActionLink to render as a button or an image instead of a link?

Url.Action() will get you the bare URL for most overloads of Html.ActionLink, but I think that the URL-from-lambda functionality is only available through Html.ActionLink so far. Hopefully they'll add a similar overload to Url.Action at some point.

I like to use Url.Action() and Url.Content() like this:

<a href='@Url.Action("MyAction", "MyController")'>
    <img src='@Url.Content("~/Content/Images/MyLinkImage.png")' />
</a>

Strictly speaking, the Url.Content is only needed for pathing is not really part of the answer to your question.

Thanks to @BrianLegg for pointing out that this should use the new Razor view syntax. Example has been updated accordingly.

Using bootstrap this is the shortest and cleanest approach to create a link to a controller action that appears as a dynamic button:

<a href='@Url.Action("Action", "Controller")' class="btn btn-primary">Click Me</a>

Or to use Html helpers:

@Html.ActionLink("Click Me", "Action", "Controller", new { @class = "btn btn-primary" })

The way I have done it is to have the actionLink and the image seperately. Set the actionlink image as hidden and then added a jQuery trigger call. This is more of a workaround.

'<%= Html.ActionLink("Button Name", "Index", null, new { @class="yourclassname" }) %>'
<img id="yourImage" src="myImage.jpg" />

Trigger example:

$("#yourImage").click(function () {
  $('.yourclassname').trigger('click');
});

use FORMACTION

<input type="submit" value="Delete" formaction="@Url.Action("Delete", new { id = Model.Id })" />

Borrowing from Patrick's answer, I found that I had to do this:

<button onclick="location.href='@Url.Action("Index", "Users")';return false;">Cancel</button>

to avoid calling the form's post method.

<li><a href="@Url.Action(  "View", "Controller" )"><i class='fa fa-user'></i><span>Users View</span></a></li>

To display an icon with the link

@using (Html.BeginForm("DeleteMember", "Member", new { id = Model.MemberID }))
    {
        <input type="submit" value="Delete Member" onclick = "return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete the member?');" />
    }

A late answer but this is how I make my ActionLink into a button. We're using Bootstrap in our project as it makes it convenient. Never mind the @T since its only an translator we're using.

@Html.Actionlink("Some_button_text", "ActionMethod", "Controller", "Optional parameter", "html_code_you_want_to_apply_to_the_actionlink");

The above gives a link like this and it looks as the picture below:

localhost:XXXXX/Firms/AddAffiliation/F0500

In my view:

@using (Html.BeginForm())
{
<div class="section-header">
    <div class="title">
        @T("Admin.Users.Users")
    </div>
    <div class="addAffiliation">
        <p />
        @Html.ActionLink("" + @T("Admin.Users.AddAffiliation"), "AddAffiliation", "Firms", new { id = (string)@WorkContext.CurrentFirm.ExternalId }, new { @class="btn btn-primary" })
    </div>
</div>

}

Hope this helps somebody

Do what Mehrdad says - or use the url helper from an HtmlHelper extension method like Stephen Walther describes here and make your own extension method which can be used to render all of your links.

Then it will be easy to render all links as buttons/anchors or whichever you prefer - and, most importantly, you can change your mind later when you find out that you actually prefer some other way of making your links.

Even later response, but I just ran into a similar issue and ended up writing my own Image link HtmlHelper extension.

You can find an implementation of it on my blog in the link above.

Just added in case someone is hunting down an implementation.

Just simply :

<button onclick="@Url.Action("index", "Family", new {familyid = Model.FamilyID })">Cancel</button>

if you don't want to use a link, use button. you can add image to button as well:

<button type="button" onclick="location.href='@Url.Action("Create", "Company")'" >
   Create New
   <img alt="New" title="New" src="~/Images/Button/plus.png">
</button>

type="button" performs your action instead of submitting form.

you can create your own extension method
take look at my implementation

public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
{
    public static MvcHtmlString ActionImage(this HtmlHelper html, string action, object routeValues, string imagePath, string alt, object htmlAttributesForAnchor, object htmlAttributesForImage)
    {
        var url = new UrlHelper(html.ViewContext.RequestContext);

        // build the <img> tag
        var imgBuilder = new TagBuilder("img");
        imgBuilder.MergeAttribute("src", url.Content(imagePath));
        imgBuilder.MergeAttribute("alt", alt);
        imgBuilder.MergeAttributes(new RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributesForImage));
        string imgHtml = imgBuilder.ToString(TagRenderMode.SelfClosing);

        // build the <a> tag
        var anchorBuilder = new TagBuilder("a");
        anchorBuilder.MergeAttribute("href", action != null ? url.Action(action, routeValues) : "#");
        anchorBuilder.InnerHtml = imgHtml; // include the <img> tag inside
        anchorBuilder.MergeAttributes(new RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributesForAnchor));

        string anchorHtml = anchorBuilder.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal);
        return MvcHtmlString.Create(anchorHtml);
    }
}

then use it in your view take look at my call

 @Html.ActionImage(null, null, "../../Content/img/Button-Delete-icon.png", Resource_en.Delete,
               new{//htmlAttributesForAnchor
                   href = "#",
                   data_toggle = "modal",
                   data_target = "#confirm-delete",
                   data_id = user.ID,
                   data_name = user.Name,
                   data_usertype = user.UserTypeID
               }, new{ style = "margin-top: 24px"}//htmlAttributesForImage
                    )

This is how I did it without scripting:

@using (Html.BeginForm("Action", "Controller", FormMethod.Get))
{
    <button type="submit" 
            class="btn btn-default" 
            title="Action description">Button Label</button>
}

Same, but with parameter and confirmation dialog:

@using (Html.BeginForm("Action", "Controller", 
        new { paramName = paramValue }, 
        FormMethod.Get, 
        new { onsubmit = "return confirm('Are you sure?');" }))
{
    <button type="submit" 
            class="btn btn-default" 
            title="Action description">Button Label</button>
}

There seems to be lots of solutions on how to created a link that displays as an image, but none that make it appear to be a button.

There is only good way that I have found to do this. Its a little bit hacky, but it works.

What you have to do is create a button and a separate action link. Make the action link invisible using css. When you click on the button, it can fire the click event of the action link.

<input type="button" value="Search" onclick="Search()" />
 @Ajax.ActionLink("Search", "ActionName", null, new AjaxOptions {}, new { id = "SearchLink", style="display:none;" })

function Search(){
    $("#SearchLink").click();
 }

It may be a pain in the butt to do this every time you add a link that needs to look like a button, but it does accomplish the desired result.

A simple way to do make your Html.ActionLink into a button (as long as you have BootStrap plugged in - which you probably have) is like this:

@Html.ActionLink("Button text", "ActionName", "ControllerName", new { @class = "btn btn-primary" })

You can't do this with Html.ActionLink. You should use Url.RouteUrl and use the URL to construct the element you want.

For Material Design Lite and MVC:

<a class="mdl-navigation__link" href='@Url.Action("MyAction", "MyController")'>Link Name</a>

Call me simplistic, but I just do:

<a href="<%: Url.Action("ActionName", "ControllerName") %>">
    <button>Button Text</button>
</a>

And you just take care of the hyperlink highlight. Our users love it :)

Just found this extension to do it - simple and effective.

<button onclick="location.href='@Url.Action("NewCustomer", "Customers")'">Checkout >></button>