Adding Custom Menu in Html Helper class using Extension Method in ASP.Net MVC

This article will show how to add new functionality in HtmlHelper class using Extension method. This will give step by step explanation of, how to create or add MENU functionality n Html helper class and then use that in view of ASP.Net MVC application.

Objective:

This article will show how to add new functionality in HtmlHelper class using Extension method. This will give step by step explanation of, how to create or add MENU functionality n Html helper class and then use that in view of ASP.Net MVC application.

Step 1:

Create an ASP.Net MVC application.
 
File->New->Project->web->ASP.Net MVC Application



Step 2:

Create Extension method for Html Helper class.

• Add a class to the project. Give a significant name. I am giving name MenuExtension
• Convert this class to a static class.
• This class contains two methods.

1. Extension method Menu.
    
   • This is extension method to call HtmlHelper.
   • This is taking two parameters as input.
   • First parameter is class name for which this method is extension method.
     (Please see my article on Extension Method for complete detail).
     
     
    
2. Static method GetItems
    
   • This is a static method to the class.
   • This is taking one input parameter
   • This is returning a list
   • This is building the list by encoding the items into a list of anchor tag.
     
     
   
   So, the entire class will look like below listing.
   
   MenuExtension.cs
   
   
   
   Step 3:
   
   Create the Controller's Action
   
   It is a very simple action. It is just creating list of strings and passing that to View. This action is inside controller Home.
   
   
   
   Step 4:
   
   Create the View
    
   • Right click on Edit action and select Add view
   • Leave the default setting 
     
     
      
   • Now in Menu.aspx , import namespace of Extension Method 
     
     
      
   • Now , we could see with Html class , .Net intellisense is able to sense the extension method 
     
     
      
   • Now add following code in Menu.aspx
     
     
   
   Step 5:
   
   Adding link at the main page for file uploading
    
   • Open site.master in Views->Shared Folder
   • Add below line in menu tag 
     
     
      
   • So, the Menu element will look like
     
     

   Step 6:
   
   Press F5 to run the application