ASP.NET MVC Email

Question

Is their a solution to generate an email template using an ASP.NET MVC View without having to jump through hoops.

Let me elaborate jumping through hoops.

Answer 1

I created an overload to LukLed's RenderSparkToString method that allows you to use a spark layout along with your view:

public static string RenderSparkToString(this Controller controller,
                                        string viewName, string masterName, object viewData)
{
    var view = ViewEngines.Engines.FindView(controller.ControllerContext, viewName, masterName).View;
    //Creating view context
    var viewContext = new ViewContext(controller.ControllerContext, view,
                                      controller.ViewData, controller.TempData);

    var sb = new StringBuilder();
    var writer = new StringWriter(sb);

    viewContext.View.Render(viewContext, writer);
    writer.Flush();
    return sb.ToString();
}

I agree with Andrew though. I wish there was an easier way to do this with the web forms view engine.