ASP.NET MVC Views: Creating and Using Templates for Dynamic Content

Learn how to create and effectively use Views in ASP.NET MVC to generate dynamic HTML for your web applications. This tutorial covers view organization, adding new views, using Razor syntax, and best practices for separating presentation logic from your controllers.

Creating and Using Views in ASP.NET MVC

Understanding MVC Views

In ASP.NET MVC, a View is a template file that generates the HTML sent to the user's browser. Views are responsible for displaying data to the user. They are standard HTML files that may contain embedded Razor code (C#) for generating dynamic content. Unlike ASP.NET Web Forms, MVC Views are separate from the application logic and are rendered by the controller.

MVC Project Structure and View Location

ASP.NET MVC follows conventions for organizing project files. Views are typically located in the Views folder, organized into subfolders based on controller names. For example, views for the StudentsController would be placed in the Views\Students folder.

Creating a View

To add a new view to your project, right-click on the appropriate subfolder within the Views folder and select Add > View. You'll be prompted to provide a name for the view. (A screenshot of this process in Visual Studio would be included here.)

Example: A Simple View

Here's a simple view file (Welcome.cshtml) that displays a message:

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Welcome";
}
<p>Welcome</p>

This view needs a controller action to render it. Here's a simple controller with an action to render this view.

using System.Web.Mvc;
namespace MvcApplicationDemo.Controllers
{
public class StudentsController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Welcome()
    {
        return View();
    }
}
}