MVC3 load View into string for mail

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Render a view as a string

I want to load a View into a variable so I can send it via Mail.

I'd want it to work like this:

var mail = new SmtpClient();
var mailView = View("registration.cshtml", userModel);
mail.Send(FromAddress, userModel.Email, mailView.ViewBag.Title, mailView.ToString());

everything but the ToString() works. How do I force MVC to compile the view?

I ended up using [this](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4344533/asp-net-mvc-razor-how-to-render-a-razor-partial-views-html-inside-the-controll/4344602#4344602) method from another user on this site. — Manuel Schweigert, Sep 26 '12 at 21:51

Phillip Schmidt · Answer 1 · 2012-09-27T04:01:29.440

1

Here's a little method for ya to put inside your controller.

    protected string RenderViewToString(string viewName, object model)
    {
        ViewData.Model = model;
        using (var sw = new StringWriter())
        {
            var viewResult = ViewEngines.Engines.FindPartialView(ControllerContext, viewName);
            var viewContext = new ViewContext(ControllerContext, viewResult.View, ViewData, TempData, sw);
            viewResult.View.Render(viewContext, sw);
            viewResult.ViewEngine.ReleaseView(ControllerContext, viewResult.View);
            return sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
        }
    }

And then you can use it like this:

string viewString = RenderViewToString("viewName", yourModel);

edited Sep 27 '12 at 04:01

answered Sep 26 '12 at 21:37

Phillip Schmidt

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What Namespace/Class does this method belong to? I don't have it. Is it MVC4? – Manuel Schweigert Sep 26 '12 at 21:45
@manuFS It's inherited from `Controller`. I assumed you'd be doing this in a controller. – Phillip Schmidt Sep 26 '12 at 21:47
I am, but it doesn't show up on intellisense for me. :/ – Manuel Schweigert Sep 26 '12 at 21:48
Hmm...weird, I was thinking it was part of `Controller`. Evidently the company I work for had implemented their own. Check my edit in a sec – Phillip Schmidt Sep 26 '12 at 21:52
that looks a lot like the code I used from another SO answer. – Manuel Schweigert Sep 26 '12 at 22:21
@manuFS Well, I certainly hope not, as technically its proprietary to the company I work for. Maybe it was originally taken from a SO answer. – Phillip Schmidt Sep 27 '12 at 04:00
@manuFS Oh, I did grab the invocation of the method from another answer somewhere. That was when I was thinking RenderViewToString was a built in method. I edited to make them actually match :P whoops! – Phillip Schmidt Sep 27 '12 at 04:02

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 26 '12 at 21:40

It's unlikely that you're actually going to send a View to a user (that is, a web page that you would render to a browser). What you probably want is a way to render Razor templates to an email. For that, there are several tools you can use. For example, I use FluentEmail, which renders templates quite nicely.

From a software engineering stand point, it's not good practice to have your controllers render an email anyways. This should be encapsulated into business processes. Having your controller render an email violates the Single Responsibility Principal.

FluentEmail has no multi-part support - that is a deal breaker for me. — NightOwl888, Jun 22 '13 at 19:56

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

0

I agree, that sending data from controller is bad idea. For example use MSMQ. Also look at this links:

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

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answered Sep 26 '12 at 21:55

webdeveloper

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I have no idea what you are trying to tell me? Where ELSE would I send a mail from if not from a controller? A user registers on my site, he gets two views. One Website, one mail. I *really* don't get it. – Manuel Schweigert Sep 26 '12 at 22:19
@manuFS The number of threads is limited, so send email with thread that process the request is not good, no guarantee that he will execute quickly (network errors and etc). The idea is: site only create mails and mail service sends them, something like this: [Use of MSMQ for Sending Bulk Mails](http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/165576/Use-of-MSMQ-for-Sending-Bulk-Mails) – webdeveloper Sep 27 '12 at 07:09
Ah I see. Well this is no concern here as this is only a registration mail and the site is not expected to have more than 10 users online, ever. If I'd expect a bigger userbase, I'd consider this, thanks. – Manuel Schweigert Sep 27 '12 at 13:28

MVC3 load View into string for mail

3 Answers3