Including MVC in existing Sitecore Project

Question

we have a Sitecore Project up and running, that is based on the regular aspx/ascx approach.

Over time we would like to transform our existing sublayouts to MVC.

For test purposes I am trying to add a very simple MVC text component to the project, still I am stuck somehow.

What I have done so far:

Right now, the Site does compile and run.

I have this Controller:

    public class TextComponentController : Controller
    {
      public ActionResult Index()
      {
        return View();
      }
    }

And my view:

<h2>Index</h2>

<p>Hello from my View Template</p>

So absolutely nothing special here ;)

How can I create a sublayout (without a datasource) that just displays this simple MVC component?

Martin Miles Martin Miles · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-22T09:18:41

In the very simplest way, you need to have the following:

Item for your page, the one that has URL; that is as normal in Sitecore
That page Item should have Layout assigned. From Presentation --> Details menu select at least a layout on that stage. If you do not have layout yet, you need to create a layout definition item under /Layout/Layouts folder and associate it with certain *.cshml file. Also mention that layout should have a placeholder where you will "inject"your rendering.
```
@Html.Sitecore().Placeholder("Main")
```
You need to create a Controller Rendering under /Layout/Renderings folder in Sitecore. Make sure you set Controller and Controller Action fields to your controller name and action method name.
Finally, go again to Presentation --> Details --> Edit --> Controls and add your newly created rendering into a placeholder that you have on your layout *.cshtml file.

That's all done.

Hope this helps!