MVC || Controllers || Understanding Controller Actions Method

Understanding Controller Action Method

 

The action methods are added to the controller class in below way.

 

namespace MvcApplication1.Controllers {     public class BookController : Controller     {         public ActionResult Index()         {             return View();                      }     } }

 

In order to be exposed to the universe as an action, a method must meet certain requirements:

 

• The method must be public.
• The method cannot be a static method.
• The method cannot be an extension method.
• The method cannot be a constructor, getter, or setter.
• The method cannot have open generic types.
• The method is not a method of the controller base class.
• The method cannot contain ref or out parameters.

 

 

There are no restrictions on the return type of a controller action. A controller action can return a String, a DateTime, an instance of the Random class, or void. The ASP.NET MVC framework will convert any return type that is not an action result into a string and render the string to the browser.

 

When you add any method that does not violate these requirements to a controller, the method is exposed as a controller action.

 

Preventing a Public Action Method from Being Invoked

 

If you need to create a public method in a controller class and you don't want to expose the method as a controller action then you can prevent the method from being invoked by using the [NonAction] attribute.

Any attempt to invoke such controller action will result into an error message

 

namespace MvcApplication1.Controllers {     public class BookController : Controller     {         [NonAction]         public ActionResult Index()         {             return View();                      }     } }

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun Manglick || Senior Tech Lead