Difference Between ViewResult() and ActionResult()

Question

What is the difference between ViewResult() and ActionResult() in ASP.NET MVC?

public ViewResult Index()
{
    return View();
}

pu         


        

Answer 1

ActionResult is an abstract class.

ViewResult derives from ActionResult. Other derived classes include JsonResult and PartialViewResult.

You declare it this way so you can take advantage of polymorphism and return different types in the same method.

e.g:

public ActionResult Foo()
{
   if (someCondition)
     return View(); // returns ViewResult
   else
     return Json(); // returns JsonResult
}