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Part 61 - Named sections in layout files in mvc

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Let us understand sections in a layout file with an example. Please watch Parts 59 and 60 from mvc tutorial before proceeding.



At the moment on all the views(Index, Create, Edit, Details & Delete), we see the same navigation menu as shown below.
named sections in layout in mvc



Let us say we want to change the navigation menu dynamically. For example, if I am on the Edit view, then I want the navigation menu to contain links for List, Details and Delete views as shown below.
rendersection in mvc

Here are the steps to achieve this using sections in layout file
Step 1: Define "Menu" section in Edit view. To define a section, use @section followed by, the name of the section. The menu section, is going to display List, Details and Delete links.
@section Menu
{
    @Html.ActionLink("List", "Index") <br />
    @Html.ActionLink("Details", "Details", new { id = Model.Id }) <br />
    @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete"new { id = Model.Id })
}

Step 2: Specify a location in layout file, where we want the "Menu" section to be rendered.
Rendering sections in layout file

The above code that is marked in red, is very simple to understand. If you navigate to a view, and if there is a "Menu" section defined in that view, then that content will be injected, else, the default content that is specified in the layout file is used. 

For example, Navigate to Edit view. Since "Edit" view has got "Menu" section defined, the content from that section (i.e List, Details and Delete links ) will be displayed. 

Now navigate to "Delete" view. "Menu" section is not defined in this view, so default content from the layout file (i.e Index action link) will be displayed.

7 comments:

  1. hi sir your tutorials are very nice please clear one thing that is can we use master pages layout in mvc app ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. how we can use master page? layout view is one type of master page?

      Delete
    2. Yes It is one type of master page. Master page is applies to ASPX view and Layout is applied to CSHTML.

      Delete
  3. Hello! I am trying to implement the Menu section but after building a running the file, I receive a an error stating the System.Web.HttpException: 'Section not defined: "Menu".' The section is defined in the Edit.cshtml file just like in the tutorial. Running Visual Studio 2019 MVC 5

    ReplyDelete

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