How can I return the current action in an ASP NET MVC view

Question

I wanted to set a CSS class in my master page  which depends on the current controller and action  I can get to the current controller via ViewContext Controller GetType   Name  but how do I get the current action  e g  Index  Show etc

User · Answer

To get the current Id on a View   ViewContext RouteData Values  id   ToString     To get the current controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ToString

User · Answer

Extending Dale Ragan s answer  his example for reuse  create an ApplicationController class which derives from Controller  and in turn have all your other controllers derive from that ApplicationController class rather than Controller   Example    public class MyCustomApplicationController   Controller     public class HomeController   MyCustomApplicationController      On your new ApplicationController create a property named ExecutingAction with this signature   protected ActionDescriptor ExecutingAction   get  set      And then in the OnActionExecuting method  from Dale Ragan s answer   simply assign the ActionDescriptor to this property and you can access it whenever you need it in any of your controllers   string currentActionName   this ExecutingAction ActionName

User · Answer

In MVC you should provide the View with all data  not let the View collect its own data so what you can do is to set the CSS class in your controller action   ViewData  CssClass      bold     and pick out this value from your ViewData in your View

User · Answer

I saw different answers and came up with a class helper   using System  using System Web Mvc   namespace MyMvcApp Helpers       public class LocationHelper           public static bool IsCurrentControllerAndAction string controllerName  string actionName  ViewContext viewContext                bool result   false              string normalizedControllerName   controllerName EndsWith  Controller     controllerName   String Format   0 Controller   controllerName                if viewContext    null  return false              if String IsNullOrEmpty actionName   return false               if  viewContext Controller GetType   Name Equals normalizedControllerName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase   amp  amp                  viewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  action   AttemptedValue Equals actionName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase                     result   true                             return result                      So in View  or master layout  you can use it like so  Razor syntax                 lt div id  menucontainer  gt                    lt ul id  menu  gt                       lt li  if MyMvcApp Helpers LocationHelper IsCurrentControllerAndAction  home    index   ViewContext                                   class  selected                            gt  Html ActionLink  Home    Index    Home   lt  li gt                       lt li  if MyMvcApp Helpers LocationHelper IsCurrentControllerAndAction  account   logon   ViewContext                                   class  selected                            gt  Html ActionLink  Logon    Logon    Account   lt  li gt                       lt li  if MyMvcApp Helpers LocationHelper IsCurrentControllerAndAction  home   about   ViewContext                                   class  selected                            gt  Html ActionLink  About    About    Home   lt  li gt                   lt  ul gt                lt  div gt    Hope it helps

User · Answer

Use the ViewContext and look at the RouteData collection to extract both the controller and action elements   But I think setting some data variable that indicates the application context  e g    editmode  or  error   rather than controller action reduces the coupling between your views and controllers

User · Answer

Extending Dale Ragan s answer  his example for reuse  create an ApplicationController class which derives from Controller  and in turn have all your other controllers derive from that ApplicationController class rather than Controller   Example    public class MyCustomApplicationController   Controller     public class HomeController   MyCustomApplicationController      On your new ApplicationController create a property named ExecutingAction with this signature   protected ActionDescriptor ExecutingAction   get  set      And then in the OnActionExecuting method  from Dale Ragan s answer   simply assign the ActionDescriptor to this property and you can access it whenever you need it in any of your controllers   string currentActionName   this ExecutingAction ActionName

User · Answer

In the RC you can also extract route data like the action method name like this  ViewContext Controller ValueProvider  action   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider  controller   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider  id   RawValue     Update for MVC 3  ViewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  action   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  controller   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  id   RawValue   Update for MVC 4  ViewContext Controller RouteData Values  action   ViewContext Controller RouteData Values  controller   ViewContext Controller RouteData Values  id     Update for MVC 4 5  ViewContext RouteData Values  action   ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  id

User · Answer

In MVC you should provide the View with all data  not let the View collect its own data so what you can do is to set the CSS class in your controller action   ViewData  CssClass      bold     and pick out this value from your ViewData in your View

User · Answer

You can get these data from RouteData of a ViewContext  ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  action

User · Answer

Override this function in your controller  protected override void HandleUnknownAction string actionName      TempData  actionName     actionName     View  urViewName   ExecuteResult this ControllerContext

User · Answer

To get the current Id on a View   ViewContext RouteData Values  id   ToString     To get the current controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ToString

User · Answer

I am using ASP NET MVC 4  and this what worked for me   ControllerContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  controller   RawValue ControllerContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  action   RawValue

User · Answer

Use the ViewContext and look at the RouteData collection to extract both the controller and action elements   But I think setting some data variable that indicates the application context  e g    editmode  or  error   rather than controller action reduces the coupling between your views and controllers

User · Answer

In MVC you should provide the View with all data  not let the View collect its own data so what you can do is to set the CSS class in your controller action   ViewData  CssClass      bold     and pick out this value from your ViewData in your View

User · Answer

To get the current Id on a View   ViewContext RouteData Values  id   ToString     To get the current controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ToString

User · Answer

I know this is an older question  but I saw it and I thought you might be interested in an alternative version than letting your view handle retrieving the data it needs to do it s job   An easier way in my opinion would be to override the OnActionExecuting method   You are passed the ActionExecutingContext that contains the ActionDescriptor member which you can use to obtain the information you are looking for  which is the ActionName and you can also reach the ControllerDescriptor and it contains the ControllerName   protected override void OnActionExecuting ActionExecutingContext filterContext        ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor   filterContext ActionDescriptor      string actionName   actionDescriptor ActionName      string controllerName   actionDescriptor ControllerDescriptor ControllerName         Now that you have the values  set them somewhere and pass them down with your ViewModel        This will keep your view cleaner and the controller will take care of everything that the view needs to do it s job      Hope this helps   If anything  at least it will show an alternative for anybody else that comes by your question

User · Answer

Use the ViewContext and look at the RouteData collection to extract both the controller and action elements   But I think setting some data variable that indicates the application context  e g    editmode  or  error   rather than controller action reduces the coupling between your views and controllers

User · Answer

I am using ASP NET MVC 4  and this what worked for me   ControllerContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  controller   RawValue ControllerContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  action   RawValue

User · Answer

You can get these data from RouteData of a ViewContext  ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  action

User · Answer

Override this function in your controller  protected override void HandleUnknownAction string actionName      TempData  actionName     actionName     View  urViewName   ExecuteResult this ControllerContext

User · Answer

I vote for this 2   string currentActionName   ViewContext RouteData GetRequiredString  action      and  string currentViewName     WebFormView ViewContext View  ViewPath    You can retrive both physical name of current view and action that triggered it  It can be usefull in partial   acmx pages to determine host container

User · Answer

I know this is an older question  but I saw it and I thought you might be interested in an alternative version than letting your view handle retrieving the data it needs to do it s job   An easier way in my opinion would be to override the OnActionExecuting method   You are passed the ActionExecutingContext that contains the ActionDescriptor member which you can use to obtain the information you are looking for  which is the ActionName and you can also reach the ControllerDescriptor and it contains the ControllerName   protected override void OnActionExecuting ActionExecutingContext filterContext        ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor   filterContext ActionDescriptor      string actionName   actionDescriptor ActionName      string controllerName   actionDescriptor ControllerDescriptor ControllerName         Now that you have the values  set them somewhere and pass them down with your ViewModel        This will keep your view cleaner and the controller will take care of everything that the view needs to do it s job      Hope this helps   If anything  at least it will show an alternative for anybody else that comes by your question

User · Answer

In the RC you can also extract route data like the action method name like this  ViewContext Controller ValueProvider  action   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider  controller   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider  id   RawValue     Update for MVC 3  ViewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  action   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  controller   RawValue ViewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  id   RawValue   Update for MVC 4  ViewContext Controller RouteData Values  action   ViewContext Controller RouteData Values  controller   ViewContext Controller RouteData Values  id     Update for MVC 4 5  ViewContext RouteData Values  action   ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  id

User · Answer

I saw different answers and came up with a class helper   using System  using System Web Mvc   namespace MyMvcApp Helpers       public class LocationHelper           public static bool IsCurrentControllerAndAction string controllerName  string actionName  ViewContext viewContext                bool result   false              string normalizedControllerName   controllerName EndsWith  Controller     controllerName   String Format   0 Controller   controllerName                if viewContext    null  return false              if String IsNullOrEmpty actionName   return false               if  viewContext Controller GetType   Name Equals normalizedControllerName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase   amp  amp                  viewContext Controller ValueProvider GetValue  action   AttemptedValue Equals actionName  StringComparison InvariantCultureIgnoreCase                     result   true                             return result                      So in View  or master layout  you can use it like so  Razor syntax                 lt div id  menucontainer  gt                    lt ul id  menu  gt                       lt li  if MyMvcApp Helpers LocationHelper IsCurrentControllerAndAction  home    index   ViewContext                                   class  selected                            gt  Html ActionLink  Home    Index    Home   lt  li gt                       lt li  if MyMvcApp Helpers LocationHelper IsCurrentControllerAndAction  account   logon   ViewContext                                   class  selected                            gt  Html ActionLink  Logon    Logon    Account   lt  li gt                       lt li  if MyMvcApp Helpers LocationHelper IsCurrentControllerAndAction  home   about   ViewContext                                   class  selected                            gt  Html ActionLink  About    About    Home   lt  li gt                   lt  ul gt                lt  div gt    Hope it helps

User · Answer

To get the current Id on a View   ViewContext RouteData Values  id   ToString     To get the current controller   ViewContext RouteData Values  controller   ToString

User · Answer

I vote for this 2   string currentActionName   ViewContext RouteData GetRequiredString  action      and  string currentViewName     WebFormView ViewContext View  ViewPath    You can retrive both physical name of current view and action that triggered it  It can be usefull in partial   acmx pages to determine host container

User · Answer

Use the ViewContext and look at the RouteData collection to extract both the controller and action elements   But I think setting some data variable that indicates the application context  e g    editmode  or  error   rather than controller action reduces the coupling between your views and controllers

User · Answer

In MVC you should provide the View with all data  not let the View collect its own data so what you can do is to set the CSS class in your controller action   ViewData  CssClass      bold     and pick out this value from your ViewData in your View

[c#] How can I return the current action in an ASP.NET MVC view?

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