Create controller for partial view in ASP.NET MVC

Question

How can I create an individual controller and model for a partial view? I want to be able to place this partial view any where on the site so it needs it's own controller. I am current rendering the partial as so

@Html.Partial("_Testimonials") 

Answer 1

Why not use Html.RenderAction()?

Then you could put the following into any controller (even creating a new controller for it):

[ChildActionOnly] public ActionResult MyActionThatGeneratesAPartial(string parameter1) {     var model = repository.GetThingByParameter(parameter1);     var partialViewModel = new PartialViewModel(model);     return PartialView(partialViewModel);  } 

Then you could create a new partial view and have your PartialViewModel be what it inherits from.

For Razor, the code block in the view would look like this:

@{ Html.RenderAction("Index", "Home"); } 

For the WebFormsViewEngine, it would look like this:

<% Html.RenderAction("Index", "Home"); %> 

Answer 2

It does not need its own controller. You can use

@Html.Partial("../ControllerName/_Testimonials.cshtml") 

This allows you to render the partial from any page. Just make sure the relative path is correct.