MVC with Bootstrap Navbar - Set Selected Item to Active

Question

I\'m learning Bootstrap and can\'t get the selected item into an \"active\" state. The active state remains on the default item. The newly selected/clicked item changes to

Answer 1

Simply you can do this in any view

<ul class="nav navbar-nav">
    @Html.NavigationLink("Link1", "Index", "Home")
    @Html.NavigationLink("Link2", "Index", "Home")
    @Html.NavigationLink("Link3", "Index", "Home")
    @Html.NavigationLink("Links with Parameter", "myAction", "MyController", new{ id=999}, new { @class= " icon-next" })
</ul>

After you add this method to a new class or existing HtmlExtensions class

public static class HtmlExtensions
{
    public static MvcHtmlString NavigationLink(this HtmlHelper html, string linkText, string action, string controller, object routeValues=null, object css=null)
    {
        TagBuilder aTag = new TagBuilder("a");
        TagBuilder liTag = new TagBuilder("li");
        var htmlAttributes = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(css);
        string url = (routeValues == null)?
            (new UrlHelper(html.ViewContext.RequestContext)).Action(action, controller)
            :(new UrlHelper(html.ViewContext.RequestContext)).Action(action, controller, routeValues);

        aTag.MergeAttribute("href", url);
        aTag.InnerHtml = linkText;
        aTag.MergeAttributes(htmlAttributes);

        if (action.ToLower() == html.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"].ToString().ToLower() && controller.ToLower() == html.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString().ToLower())
            liTag.MergeAttribute("class","active");

        liTag.InnerHtml = aTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal);
        return new MvcHtmlString(liTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
    }
}

Answer 2

You have to check in your controller or view which menu item is active based on the current url:

I have an extension method similar to this:

public static string MakeActiveClass(this UrlHelper urlHelper, string controller)
{
    string result = "active";

    string controllerName = urlHelper.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString();

    if (!controllerName.Equals(controller, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
    {
        result = null;
    }

    return result;
}

You can use it in your view like this:

<!-- Make the list item active when the current controller is equal to "blog" -->
<li class="@Url.MakeActive("blog")">
   <a href="@Url.Action("index", "blog")">....</a>
</li>

Answer 3

The JavaScript isn't working because the page is getting reloaded after it runs. So it correctly sets the active item and then the page loads because the browser is following the link. Personally, I would remove the JavaScript you have because it serves no purpose. To do this client side (instead of the server side code you have), you need JavaScript to set the active item when the new page loads. Something like:

$(document).ready(function() {
    $('ul.nav.navbar-nav').find('a[href="' + location.pathname + '"]')
        .closest('li').addClass('active');
});

I recommend adding an id or other class to your navbar so you can be sure you have selected the correct one.

Answer 4

Simplest thing to do is send a ViewBag parameter from your controllers like following;

public ActionResult About()
    {            
        ViewBag.Current = "About";
        return View();
    }


    public ActionResult Contact()
    {            
        ViewBag.Current = "Contact";
        return View();
    }

In the cshtml page do the following;

           <ul class="nav navbar-nav">                    
                <li class="@(ViewBag.Current == "About" ? "active" : "")">@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home")</li>
                <li class="@(ViewBag.Current == "Contact" ? "active" : "")">@Html.ActionLink("Contact", "Contact", "Home")</li>
            </ul>

Courtesy to @Damith in here

Answer 5

Just add this JQuery coded :

<script>
        $(document).ready(function () {
            $('body').find('a[href="' + location.pathname + '"]')
                .addClass('active');
        });
</script>

Answer 6

Your javascript function should work fine... The issue is that your links route to a controller and reload the entire page. In order to avoid this behavior you could render your body content as a partial view, that way the navbar elements do not reload. You shouldn't have to write a function to handle dom events - that is what javascript is for.

To see what I mean, change your code:

<li><a href="~/Home/About">About</a></li>
<li><a href="~/Student">Students Sample</a></li>

to:

 <li><a href="">About</a></li>
 <li><a href="">Students Sample</a></li>