What's the difference between "return View()" and "return PartialView()"

Question

I understand that partial views are used to render parts of a view. But I can't understand what's the difference between return View() and return PartialView() and when do you use each one.

Answer 1

Return View() - Renders an .aspx|.cshtml page

• Renders a normal .aspx page that can also contain Partial Views

Return PartialView() - Renders .ascx|.cshtml Control

• Renders a segment of HTML to the browser that can be requested through AJAX or Non-AJAX requests alike.

View() returns ViewResult PartialView() returns PartialViewResult both inherit from ViewResultBase

The difference is described by Reflector below...

public class PartialViewResult : ViewResultBase {    // Methods    protected override ViewEngineResult FindView(ControllerContext context)    {       ViewEngineResult result = base.ViewEngineCollection.FindPartialView(context, base.ViewName);       if (result.View != null)       {          return result;       }       StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();       foreach (string str in result.SearchedLocations)       {          builder.AppendLine();          builder.Append(str);       }       throw new InvalidOperationException(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture, MvcResources.Common_PartialViewNotFound, new object[] { base.ViewName, builder }));    } }   public class ViewResult : ViewResultBase {    // Fields    private string _masterName;     // Methods    protected override ViewEngineResult FindView(ControllerContext context)    {       ViewEngineResult result = base.ViewEngineCollection.FindView(context, base.ViewName, this.MasterName);       if (result.View != null)       {          return result;       }       StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();       foreach (string str in result.SearchedLocations)       {          builder.AppendLine();          builder.Append(str);       }       throw new InvalidOperationException(string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture, MvcResources.Common_ViewNotFound, new object[] { base.ViewName, builder }));    }     // Properties    public string MasterName    {       get       {          return (this._masterName ?? string.Empty);       }       set       {          this._masterName = value;       }    } }