Asp.Net Mvc - How to have a "controller" in shared view

Question

I have a shared view in my _Layout.cshtml for my header named "_Header.cshtml".

I would like to display text and image from the database, so I need my controller to go in the database and return it to the _Header.cshtml.

How can I do that because the controller called is always different each page the user goes. Is there a way to have controller with Shared View?

Here is the _Layout.cshtml

    <div id="header">         <div id="title">             @Html.Partial("_Header")         </div>          <div id="logindisplay">            @Html.Partial("_CultureChooser")             <br />            @Html.Partial("_LogOnPartial")         </div>          <div id="menucontainer">            @Html.Partial( "_MenuPartial")         </div>     </div>      <div id="main">         @RenderBody()         <div id="footer">         </div>     </div>  </div> 

Answer 1

In your contoller action you could specify the name of the view:

public class MenuController : Controller {     [ChildActionOnly]     public ActionResult Header()     {         var model = ... // go to the database and fetch a model         return View("~/Views/Shared/_Header.cshtml", model);     } } 

Now in your _Layout.cshtml instead of @Html.Partial("_Header") do this:

@Html.Action("Header", "Menu") 

Answer 2

... 1 year later would just like to add one thing to Dimitrov answer. You can make the controller a little cleaner:

public class MenuController : Controller {     [ChildActionOnly]     public ActionResult Header()     {         var model = ... // go to the database and fetch a model         return Partial("_Header", model);     } }