What does @Html.Sitecore.Placeholder() point to?

Question

In Sitecore 7 MVC, my understanding is that partial views are represented by using Razor declarations such as @Html.Sitecore().Placeholder("some_thing") in a .cshtml file.

In this context, what does the argument "some_thing" actually represent - is it something located in the Sitecore instance? If so, how can I locate the thing that "some_thing" represents within the Sitecore database?

Answer 1

In the shortest way: Sitecore Placeholder is a place where you can add your components.

The argument some_thing in @Html.Sitecore().Placeholder("some_thing") is the name of the placeholder.

You can have multiple placeholders on your page. When you add a component to a page, you tell Sitecore "Put in in placeholder some_thing and that's how Sitecore knows where to place it.

Read Presentation Component Reference for more information (yeah this document is years old, but the idea is still the same).