How to return Url string from Controller a controller in mvc 4

Question

Please i am trying to generate my Url hyperlink dynamically in my MVC Application.

<a href='http://facebook.com/myPage'>Facebook</a>

The above link takes me to my facebook home page. I want to be able to change the url later on as the page name is not decided. So i tried

<a href='@Url.Action("GetFaceBookLink", "Home")'>Facebook</a>

And in my controller

 public ActionResult GetFaceBookLink()
        {
            string facebook = repository.SystemSettings.FirstOrDefault().FacebookLink;

            return this.Content(facebook);
        }

My string facebook = "http://facebook.com/mypage" . I want to be redicted to my facebook home page as usal. However, when i clicked, it returns the string url in a black pagewithout redirecting . Please how do i redirect ? how do i achieve this ? Any help would be appreciated.

@EhsanSajjad I am confused for the url string is returning . Please any tutorial, link or help with the custom helper ? — Nuru Salihu, Apr 11 '15 at 10:34
You can create a partial view and use RenderAction to render it on main view — Ehsan Sajjad, Apr 11 '15 at 10:36
Brilliant. It works . But just curious why did Html.Action works and Url does'nt ? I though because we are dealing with url here so Url.Action should do the trick ? — Nuru Salihu, Apr 11 '15 at 10:49
url.action ccreates path controller and action name, added answer as well — Ehsan Sajjad, Apr 11 '15 at 11:08

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 11 '15 at 10:44

2

You can redirect to another site from controller by

public ActionResult GetFaceBookLink() {
return Redirect("http://facebook.com/mypage");
}

answered Apr 11 '15 at 10:44

M.Azad

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But i coudn't use `Redirect("http://facebook.com/mypage")` for my case though. I got the error Child actions are not allowed to perform redirect actions," . I am doing this in my Layoutpage . A page body has been rendered already and now a controller returning a redirect , i guess thats why the error. Nonetheless , it's a great solution. Thank you :). – Nuru Salihu Apr 11 '15 at 10:59
1

@NuruSalihu che these url for more info http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2056421/why-are-redirect-results-not-allowed-in-child-actions-in-asp-net-mvc-2 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25015833/child-actions-are-not-allowed-to-perform-redirect-actions-after-setting-the-sit – M.Azad Apr 11 '15 at 11:15

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 11 '15 at 11:09

2

You need Html.Action helper here :

<a href='@Html.Action("GetFaceBookLink", "Home")'>Facebook</a>

Url.Action do not calls action, it generates url using Controller and Action name

answered Apr 11 '15 at 11:09

Ehsan Sajjad

61,834
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How to return Url string from Controller a controller in mvc 4

2 Answers2

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