The ASP.NET MVC framework includes helper methods that make it easy to render HTML in a view.
HTML helpers are used to modify HTML output.
With MVC, HTML helpers resemble traditional ASP.NET Web Form controls.
Like the Web Form control in ASP.NET, HTML helpers are used to modify HTML. But HTML helpers are more lightweight. Unlike Web Form controls, HTML helpers have no event model and no view state.
In most cases, an HTML helper is just a method that returns a string.
With MVC, you can create your own helpers, or use the built-in HTML helpers directly.
MVC includes standard helpers for most commonly used HTML element types, such as HTML links and HTML form elements.
The simplest way to render HTML links is to use the HTML.ActionLink() helper.
With MVC, Html.ActionLink() does not connect to the view. It creates a connection to the controller action.
Razor syntax:
@Html.ActionLink("About this Website", "About")ASP syntax:
<%=Html.ActionLink("About this Website", "About")%>The first parameter is the link text and the second parameter is the name of the controller action.
The Html.ActionLink() helper above outputs the following HTML:
<a href="/Home/About">About this Website</a>
Some properties of the Html.ActionLink() helper:
| property | describe |
|---|---|
| .linkText | URL text (tag), the inner text of the anchor element. |
| .actionName | The name of the action. |
| .routeValues | The value passed to the action is an object containing route parameters. |
| .controllerName | The name of the controller. |
| .htmlAttributes | The URL attribute set is an object containing the HTML attributes to be set for the element. |
| .protocol | URL protocol, such as "http" or "https". |
| .hostname | The hostname of the URL. |
| .fragment | URL fragment name (anchor name). |
Note: You can pass values to controller actions. For example, you can pass the database record's id to the database Edit operation:
Razor syntax C#:
@Html.ActionLink("Edit Record", "Edit", new {Id=3})Razor syntax VB:
@Html.ActionLink("Edit Record", "Edit", New With{.Id=3})The Html.ActionLink() helper above outputs the following HTML:
<a href="/Home/Edit/3">Edit Record</a>
The following HTML helpers can be used to render (modify and output) HTML form elements:
BeginForm()
EndForm()
TextArea()
TextBox()
CheckBox()
RadioButton()
ListBox()
DropDownList()
Hidden()
Password()
ASP.NET syntax C#:
<%= Html.ValidationSummary("Create was unsuccessful. Please correct the errors and try again.") %> <% using (Html.BeginForm()){%> <p> <label for="FirstName">First Name :</label> <%= Html.TextBox("FirstName") %> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("FirstName", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="LastName">Last Name:</label> <%= Html.TextBox("LastName") %> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("LastName", "*") %> </ p> <p> <label for="Password">Password:</label> <%= Html.Password("Password") %> <%= Html.ValidationMessage("Password", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Password">Confirm Password:</label> <%= Html.Password("ConfirmPassword") %> < %= Html.ValidationMessage("ConfirmPassword", "*") %> </p> <p> <label for="Profile">Profile:</label> <%= Html.TextArea("Profile", new {cols=60, rows=10})%> </p> <p> <%= Html.CheckBox("ReceiveNewsletter") %> <label for="ReceiveNewsletter" style= "display:inline">Receive Newsletter?</label> </p> <p> <input type="submit" value="Register" /> </p> <%}%>The above is an introduction to the ASP.NETMVCHTML helper.