How can I define the location of a custom editor template when using MVC areas?

Question

It is my understanding that the location is:

~/Views/Shared/EditorTemplates/ViewModelName

However I have many Views folders using areas. Can I define the file to use with some parameter of the call to the

@Html.EditorFor( ...

Answer 1

Those are default lookup paths which RazorViewEngine will search for editor template, in this order:

"~/Areas/{area}/Views/{controller}/EditorTemplates/{templateName}.cshtml",
"~/Areas/{area}/Views/Shared/EditorTemplates/{templateName}.cshtml",
"~/Views/{controller}/EditorTemplates/{templateName}.cshtml",
"~/Views/Shared/EditorTemplates/{templateName}.cshtml",

If not specified, templateName value defaults to object type (in your case 'ViewModelName'). If template with this name is not found by MVC will fall back to resolve rendering using known build-in templates (int, string, collection, object, etc).

You can specify template name to override defaults:

@Html.EditorFor(m => m.MyDate, "_MyTemplate")

You can also specify relative paths:

@Html.EditorFor(m => m.MyDate, "../_MyTemplate")

You cannot specify full paths in any form (ex:"~/Views/Custom/EditorTemplates/ViewModelName") and you should never specify extension in template name (ex: '_MyTemplate.cshtml', or '_MyTemplate.vbhtml')!