Render a view as a string
- by Dan Atkinson
Hi all!
I'm wanting to output two different views (one as a string that will be sent as an email), and the other the page displayed to a user.
Is this possible in ASP.NET MVC beta?
I've tried multiple examples:
RenderPartial to String in ASP.NET MVC Beta
If I use this example, I receive the "Cannot redirect after HTTP headers have been sent.".
MVC Framework: Capturing the output of a view
If I use this, I seem to be unable to do a redirectToAction, as it tries to render a view that may not exist. If I do return the view, it is completely messed up and doesn't look right at all.
Does anyone have any ideas/solutions to these issues i have, or have any suggestions for better ones?
Many thanks!
Below is an example. What I'm trying to do is create the GetViewForEmail method:
public ActionResult OrderResult(string ref)
{
//Get the order
Order order = OrderService.GetOrder(ref);
//The email helper would do the meat and veg by getting the view as a string
//Pass the control name (OrderResultEmail) and the model (order)
string emailView = GetViewForEmail("OrderResultEmail", order);
//Email the order out
EmailHelper(order, emailView);
return View("OrderResult", order);
}
Accepted answer from Tim Scott (changed and formatted a little by me):
public virtual string RenderViewToString(
ControllerContext controllerContext,
string viewPath,
string masterPath,
ViewDataDictionary viewData,
TempDataDictionary tempData)
{
Stream filter = null;
ViewPage viewPage = new ViewPage();
//Right, create our view
viewPage.ViewContext = new ViewContext(controllerContext, new WebFormView(viewPath, masterPath), viewData, tempData);
//Get the response context, flush it and get the response filter.
var response = viewPage.ViewContext.HttpContext.Response;
response.Flush();
var oldFilter = response.Filter;
try
{
//Put a new filter into the response
filter = new MemoryStream();
response.Filter = filter;
//Now render the view into the memorystream and flush the response
viewPage.ViewContext.View.Render(viewPage.ViewContext, viewPage.ViewContext.HttpContext.Response.Output);
response.Flush();
//Now read the rendered view.
filter.Position = 0;
var reader = new StreamReader(filter, response.ContentEncoding);
return reader.ReadToEnd();
}
finally
{
//Clean up.
if (filter != null)
{
filter.Dispose();
}
//Now replace the response filter
response.Filter = oldFilter;
}
}
Example usage
Assuming a call from the controller to get the order confirmation email, passing the Site.Master location.
string myString = RenderViewToString(this.ControllerContext, "~/Views/Order/OrderResultEmail.aspx", "~/Views/Shared/Site.Master", this.ViewData, this.TempData);
