ASP.NET MVC Menu Selected Item

Question

OK new to MVC. I had asked this question earlier and got an answer but I am wondering if there is a simpler solution.

Say I have a master page with a menu laid out as an

Answer 1

You should pass all relevant information in the Model. Ideally your menu will be rendered as a Partial View by a separate controller method. I have a Navigation controller with actions like MainMenu, FooterMenu, Breadcrumbs, etc that render individual parts.

Your model will be a collection of menu items like:

    public class MenuItemModel
    {
        public MenuItemModel()
        {
            SubMenu = new List();
        }

        public string Text { get; set; }
        public string Controller { get; set; }            
        public string Action { get; set; }
        public bool Selected { get; set; }

        public List SubMenu { get; private set; }
    }

Your Controller will create a collection of menu items and pass them to the view with the appropriate item selected. Then the view can be as simple as:

     
    <% foreach(var menuItem in Model.MenuItems) { %> 
        
<%: Html.ActionLink(menuItem.Text, menuItem.Action, menuItem.Controller, null, new { @class = menuItem.Selected ? "selected" : "" })%>
    <% } %>