Html.Partial() skips the controller action

Question

I am using @Html.Partial("Index") to call upon an action called "Index" in a controller, which should then return me the "Index" view. Unfortunately, it looks like the controller action is ignored because I get an error in Index view that Model is null. I tried setting breakpoints in the controller action and they are simply being skipped, it seems that the view "Index" is rendered without reading the controller? What is going on here?

Thx for any ideas.

Controller Action code is below:

public ActionResult Index()
{
        int UserId = (int)Session["UserId"];
        var Photos = db.Photos
                    .Where(Photo => Photo.ClientId == UserId)
                    .ToList();
        if ((bool)Session["Admin"] == true) return PartialView(Photos);
        else return View(Photos);
}

Answer 1

Html.Partial will only render a view. If you want to call an action you must use Html.Action, which will execute the action and return the view if any.