MVC Shared Partial Views using different controllers and models

Question

I have 2 controllers that generate 2 index views. What i would like to do is use these views as global shared partial views but cant seem to get this working.

Does anyone know if this is even possible?

My controller code is

  public ActionResult Index()
        {

            var viewModel = (from P in db.Projects
                             join R in db.Reports on P.ProjectTitle equals R.ReportProjectID into ps
                             from R in ps.DefaultIfEmpty()
                             select new MyViewModel { Project = P, Report = R });


            return View(viewModel);
        }

My ViewModel code is

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Web;

    namespace MiLife2.ViewModels
    {
    public class MyViewModel
    {
        public Project Project { get; set; }
        public Report Report { get; set; }
    }
    }

and my view is

    @model IQueryable<MiLife2.ViewModels.MyViewModel>

    @{
    ViewBag.Title = "Index";
    }
    enter code here

<h2>Index</h2>
<div>@Html.Partial("_Partial1")</div>
<p>
    @Html.ActionLink("Create New", "Create")
</p>
<table>
    <tr>
        <th></th>
    </tr>

@foreach (var item in Model)
{
    <tr>
        <td>@item.Project.ProjectTitle </td>
        <td>@item.Project.ProjectCreatedByID</td>
        <td>@item.Project.ProjectCreatedDate</td>


        <td>@if (item.Report == null)
            {
                <text>No Reports</text>
            }
            else
            {
               @item.Report.Title;
            }
        </td>
        <td>@if (item.Report == null)
            {
                <text> </text>
            }
            else
            {
               @item.Report.Description;
            }</td>

        <td>
            @Html.ActionLink("Edit", "Edit", new { id=item.Project.ProjectID }) |
            @Html.ActionLink("Details", "Details", new {  id=item.Project.ProjectID }) |
            @Html.ActionLink("Delete", "Delete", new {  id=item.Project.ProjectID })
        </td>
    </tr>
}

</table>

If i create a partial page and paste the above view into it and then use @HTML.Partial("_ProjPartial") i get the error

The model item passed into the dictionary is of type 'System.Collections.Generic.List1[MiLife2.Project]', but this dictionary requires a model item of type 'System.Linq.IQueryable1[MiLife2.ViewModels.MyViewModel]'.

This does not happen if i use @HTML.Partial("_ProjPartial") from within the Index cshtml page in the specific controller views folder.

If you need to render an output of controller action to a view you should consider the Html.RenderAction() method. — Jakub
Im new to MVC so Im not too sure how HTML.RenderAction() works. Should i render the controller action in the partial view and then use my index.cshtml coding? — JMB
@JMB Say you have a controller X with an actionmethod X.Partial() which is using a partial view "_partial.cshtml". Then you have controller Y with an actionmethod Y.Index() which uses a view "index.cshtml" and in that index you want to render that partial view. So in that index you call Html.RenderAction("X", "Partial") and you should get it. — Jakub

Matt Bodily Matt Bodily · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-25T14:18:40

From the error it looks like to me that your partial view is looking for the same model as you have on your view. Passing the model to your partial should fix that error

@Html.Partial("_Partial1", Model)

update:

since that didn't work for you I would try using an ajax call

$('.btnSubmit').on('click', function(){
    $.ajax({
         url: "@(Url.Action("Action", "Controller"))",
         type: "POST",
         cache: false,
         async: true,
         data: { id: id },
         success: function (result) {
             $(".Content").html(result);
         }
    });

 });

then in your controller

public PartialViewResult GetPartial()
    {

        var viewModel = (from P in db.Projects
                         join R in db.Reports on P.ProjectTitle equals R.ReportProjectID into ps
                         from R in ps.DefaultIfEmpty()
                         select new MyViewModel { Project = P, Report = R });


        return PartialView("_Partial1", viewModel);
    }

Using this ajax call you can call the partial view from any view and you can pass different id's, on button clicks or as needed to refresh the view. Hopefully calling it this way will fix your error. let me know if you have any questions.

MVC Shared Partial Views using different controllers and models

2 Answers