Regions In ASP.NET Views?

Question

I am making an ASP.NET MVC application with the razor engine.
And I was wondering if it's possible to use Regions in a view.

something like:

#region blabla
    <p>@Model.Name</p>
    <p>...</p>
#endregion

This does not work. Is there an alternative?

Gignac

You can use Ctrl+M, Ctrl+L to collapse the tags – Heartfelt

Answer 1

This works in Visual Studio 2015 and above (thanks to @dotnetN00b for the sample in the comments section):

<!-- #region Test -->

code here

<!-- #endregion -->

Ballflower

If you have VS 2012, then download Web Essentials 2012. In either case, you'll need to go to your menu in VS (2012 for me), Tools > Extensions and Updates > Online and search for the tool. In short, IMO, this is definitely the answer until MS provides built-in support. – Whatley

The syntax is as simple as <!-- #region Test --> and <!-- #endregion -->. – Whatley

Works with VS2015 with no plugin - nice & perfect answer – Actinolite

This is the only correct answer here, the others are talking about collapsing the PARENT TAG, which is not the same thing – Sedgewick

This should be the correct answer! Works with VS2015 without any plugin. – Louella

I changed the correct answer to this one! Thanks for all the input :) – Gignac

Just tried it in VS2017, but doesn't seem to work without plugin (as reported for VS2015). Anyone know the status for VS2017? – Conjoined

Correction: It works as in regular C# code #region Test ... #endregion but only in C# code secions within the Razor view file. If any HTML mode section appears inside the region, it won't work. – Conjoined

can we use region inside another region? – Doubledecker

Its not working on Visual Studio for Mac, version is 8.10.10 (build 8). Do I need to install any plugin? – Bon

Answer 2

Select the part which needs to be converted to region, then right click and press CollapseTag

Lali

I never knew that you could do this although I can't see how to give the region a name. That said, I can't see any reason why this should not be marked as the correct answer? – Declination

In fact, this is the correct answer. This answer has been awarded bounty by Chuck Norris, so No matters where the green tick is. This is the correct one. – Mikelmikell

suggest the answer starts: No, you can't use regions, but you could try this instead – Crowd

Note that this is not saved when your close and reopen the file in question, which makes them not really interesting at least in my case. – Upperclassman

Also note this won't actually allow you to collapse a group of elements, but their parent and/or individual elements, which won't give the desired effect in this case. In my case, I'm looking for collapsable #region elements within a code block. Since I'm using asp.net in MVC, I put the region demark and then use close/end server tags. It's ugly when expanded but it works: <% // non-collapsed code .. %><% #region collapsable code #endregion %><% // resume non-collapsed code.. %> OR you can use Ctrl-M + Ctrl-H & Ctrl-M + Ctrl-U (stackoverflow.com/questions/6457967) – Marigolde

These are not regions at all, just collapsing tags. Even Chuck Norris can be wrong sometimes. – Alleras

I dont have the CollapseTag option when i rightclick in VS2017, someone know how can turn it on? – Palfrey

Answer 3

In Visual Studio (2015 and above) .html or .cshtml code editor, type region, then press Tab key.This implements #region snippet code like below:

<!-- #region name -->

//Your html or cshtml codes

<!-- #endregion -->.

Compose

Definitely the better option in recent VS versions - and more natural – Cheapen

Works for me in VS2013 – Exhibitioner

Works for me in Visual Studio 2019 Professional – Filamentous

Answer 4

In Visual Studio, you can manually add outlined region like this :

To create or remove a collapsible region

1. Select the text you want to treat as a collapsible region.

2. To create a collapsible region, on the Edit menu, point to Outlining, and then click Hide Selection.

The editor turns the selection into a region, collapses it, and displays a box with an ellipsis (...) to indicate that the area contains a collapsed area. You can hold the mouse pointer over the box to see its contents.

3. To remove a collapsible region, collapse it, and then click it to select it.

4. On the Edit menu, point to Outlining, and then click Stop Hiding Current.

To collapse and expand a single region

1. To collapse a region, click the minus sign (-) in the margin of the editor.

2. To expand a collapsed region, click the plus sign (+) in the margin.

To collapse and expand all regions

On the Edit menu, point to Outlining, and then click Toggle All Outlining.

From MSDN

But that's not really practical.

For HTML you can manually edit the outline option for each tags in the text editors options :

Minimum value of minimum lines is 1 to be effective.

More info on MSDN

Falkner

Points for the Outlining Collapse. I find it very practical. – Berkey

Answer 5

I don't have "CollapseTag" option in my context menu. What I usually do is :

1. Select text.
2. Goto Edit -> Outlining -> Hide Selection.

or

use Ctrl+M, Ctrl+H

I am using Microsoft Visual Studio Pro 2013.

Sharpnosed

This is perfect (y) I love it. Thx so much – Deluna

Answer 6

No, AFAIK it is not possible to use regions in a view. You could use partials to group regions of the view into reusable partial views.

See the newer answer; it works and accomplishes the desired effect.

Mocambique

Useless, as they do not save when closed. – Rostrum

Answer 7

Divs are collapsible so you could always use them with some sort an id to kind of mimic regions.

<div id="BLABLA">...</div>

Backpedal

Answer 8

You can use Masterpages with RenderPartial or RenderAction to make your views smaller. Both have their places.

Gantry

Answer 9

regions sort-of work in views for me, I can define a region but it will not collapse. If you use @Artur's method of using Collapse Tag you're pretty much there! :)

Tobytobye

Answer 10

Be aware that using regions can cause issues in views - even though they are syntactically valid, often the designation between code and HTML/SCRIPT becomes 'confused', resulting in unpredictable behavior.

DIVs are certainly the 'better' solution, especially as extra DIVs allow more flexibility when changing CSS styles later.

If you need lots of regions, then consider refactoring your code further.

Unstudied

Or, just be cautious about where you are placing the regions so they don't break the c# code embedded in HTML – Vincenzovincible

Answer 11

This worked for me :)

<!-- #region
<p> bla bla <p>
@if(blabla)
{

}
#endregion -->

Vigilance

But this would comment out the code, instead of just marking it as a region. That doesn’t seem especially helpful? – Pyrostat