Can the shared layout view have a controller in ASP.NET MVC?

Question

Can the shared layout view have a controller?

I need to pass it Model information from a Controller?

Or am I missing something here?

Answer 1

In the controller:

    public PartialViewResult Menu()
    {
        var ChargeTypes = db.ChargeTypes.ToList();
        return PartialView(ChargeTypes);
    }

And then its partial view:

@model IEnumerable<ProposalMaker.Models.ChargeType>

@foreach (var item in Model)
{
    <li>@item.Name</li>
}

Then in the shared partial view

@{Html.RenderAction("Menu","ChargeType");}

Thanks for the tip SLaks!

Answer 2

To pass information to the layout, you will need to use a base view model that is used by all your view models. Your layout can then take this base model.

I have previously answered an SO question on this

Pass data to layout that are common to all pages

Which has a detailed example.