ASP.NET MVC Menu Selected Item

Question

OK new to MVC. I had asked this question earlier and got an answer but I am wondering if there is a simpler solution.

Say I have a master page with a menu laid out as an

Answer 1

Here is another possibility, more simple in my opinion using an HTML Helper:

CSS Class

ul#menu li.selected a {
  background-color: #034af3;
  color: #e8eef4;
}

HTML Helper

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace MyWebApp.WebUI.HtmlHelpers
{
  public static class HtmlHelperExtensions
  {
    public static string ActivePage(this HtmlHelper helper, string controller, string action)
    {
      string classValue = "";

      string currentController = helper.ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("controller").RawValue.ToString();
      string currentAction = helper.ViewContext.Controller.ValueProvider.GetValue("action").RawValue.ToString();

      if (currentController == controller && currentAction == action)
      {
        classValue = "selected";
      }

      return classValue;
    }
  }
}

Menu on the Layout :

  

    
@Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home")
    
@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home")
  

More informations here : http://bubblogging.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/mvc-add-selected-class-to-menu/