What's the difference between “return View()” and “return PartialView()”

Question

I understand that partial views are used to render parts of a view. But I can\'t understand what\'s the difference between return View() and return Partia

Answer 1

return PartialView() returns HTML code fragment and it is used with ViewUserControls - ASCX files. The main advantage of using "return PartialView()" is when you don't want to render all the other HTML page stuff, like HTML, BODY, HEAD tags.

One of the most common uses by me is when I want to render just the user control based on whether the request to an action is AJAX call.

So I have a View called MyControl.aspx where I use RenderPartial HTML helper and I have a partial View named MyControl.ascx where I do the actual render.

I can switch between those two in my controller action like this:

if (Request.IsAjaxRequest())
    return PartialView("MyControl"); // this renders MyControl.ascx

return View(); // this render MyControl.aspx