What is the difference (if any) between Html.Partial(view, model) and Html.RenderPartial(view,model) in MVC2?

Question

Other than the type it returns and the fact that you call it differently of course

<% Html.RenderPartial(...); %>
<%= Html.Partial(...) %>  
         


        

Answer 1

The only difference is that Partial returns an MvcHtmlString, and must be called inside <%= %>, whereas RenderPartial returnsvoid and renders directly to the view.

If you look at the source code, you'll see that they both call the same internal method, passing a StringWriter for it to render to.

You would call Partial if you want to view, save, or manipulate the generated HTML instead of writing it to the page.