cannot implicitly convert type void to object. .NET MVC PartialViewResult

Question

I have the following controller action:

[ChildActionOnly]
public virtual PartialViewResult ListActions(int id)
{
    var actions = meetingActionRepository.GetAllMeetingActions(id);

    return PartialView(actions);
}

And the following action link (using t4MVC and the razor syntax)

<p>
   @Html.RenderAction(MVC.MeetingActions.ListActions(Model.MeetingId))
</p>

However this gives me the error:

cannot implicitly convert type void to object

As far as i can tell the controller action is ok, so what could be giving me this error?

Greenwich

Answer 1

Like this:

<p>
    @Html.Action(MVC.MeetingActions.ListActions(Model.MeetingId))
</p>

or if you insist on RenderAction like this:

<p>
    @{Html.RenderAction(MVC.MeetingActions.ListActions(Model.MeetingId));}
</p>

Personally I prefer the first, makes fewer keystrokes.

Lucrece

Thank you. Funky syntax there. I assume that's the razor way of doing <%html instead of <%=Html ? What's the difference between Action and Renderaction anyway. Phil Haack says RenderAction is more efficient? – Greenwich

@Doozer1979, yeah, exactly, that's the Razor way. – Lucrece

This also works : {Html.RenderAction(MVC.MeetingActions.ListActions(Model.MeetingId));}, so using @ is not necessary. – Khamsin

Answer 2

I had the same issue. What worked for me is to encapsulate the expression it in curly brackets.

@{Html.RenderPartial("viewName", Model);}

Hope

This worked for me, however I have no idea why adding curling brackets would work. Can you elaborate on that? – Theoretics

@BradThiessen It works because ASP.NET MVC is quite frankly a shoddy framework full of glaring holes and poor design decisions. I just came across this too. Who knows why, but my patience is wearing thin with MVC. – Kiki

@BradThiessen RenderPartial() is a void, using @ you say the Razor to print it which is not possible as it doesn't produce any output content! – Frisky

Answer 3

Html.Partial should work as well :)

@Html.Partial("View", Model);

Ihram

Answer 4

Difference between Html.RenderAction and Html.Action

Different things for different purposes. Check out the above link.

Essene