Putting HTML inside Html.ActionLink(), plus No Link Text?

Question

I have two questions:

1. I\'m wondering how I can display no link text when using Html.ActionLink() in an MVC view (actually, this is Site.Mast

Answer 1

It's very simple.

If you want to have something like a glyphicon icon and then "Wish List",

<span class="glyphicon-heart"></span> @Html.ActionLink("Wish List (0)", "Index", "Home")

Answer 2

Here is an uber expansion of @tvanfosson's answer. I was inspired by it and decide to make it more generic.

    public static MvcHtmlString NestedActionLink(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string linkText, string actionName,
        string controllerName, object routeValues = null, object htmlAttributes = null,
        RouteValueDictionary childElements = null)
    {
        var htmlAttributesDictionary = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(htmlAttributes);

        if (childElements != null)
        {
            var urlHelper = new UrlHelper(htmlHelper.ViewContext.RequestContext);

            var anchorTag = new TagBuilder("a");
            anchorTag.MergeAttribute("href",
                routeValues == null
                    ? urlHelper.Action(actionName, controllerName)
                    : urlHelper.Action(actionName, controllerName, routeValues));
            anchorTag.MergeAttributes(htmlAttributesDictionary);
            TagBuilder childTag = null;

            if (childElements != null)
            {
                foreach (var childElement in childElements)
                {
                    childTag = new TagBuilder(childElement.Key.Split('|')[0]);
                    object elementAttributes;
                    childElements.TryGetValue(childElement.Key, out elementAttributes);

                    var attributes = HtmlHelper.AnonymousObjectToHtmlAttributes(elementAttributes);

                    foreach (var attribute in attributes)
                    {
                        switch (attribute.Key)
                        {
                            case "@class":
                                childTag.AddCssClass(attribute.Value.ToString());
                                break;
                            case "InnerText":
                                childTag.SetInnerText(attribute.Value.ToString());
                                break;
                            default:
                                childTag.MergeAttribute(attribute.Key, attribute.Value.ToString());
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                    childTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.SelfClosing);
                    if (childTag != null) anchorTag.InnerHtml += childTag.ToString();
                }                    
            }
            return MvcHtmlString.Create(anchorTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
        }
        else
        {
            return htmlHelper.ActionLink(linkText, actionName, controllerName, routeValues, htmlAttributesDictionary);
        }
    }

Answer 3

Please try below Code that may help you.

 @Html.ActionLink(" SignIn", "Login", "Account", routeValues: null, htmlAttributes: new {  id = "loginLink" ,**@class="glyphicon glyphicon-log-in"** }) 

Answer 4

A custom HtmlHelper extension is another option. Note: ParameterDictionary is my own type. You could substitute a RouteValueDictionary but you'd have to construct it differently.

public static string ActionLinkSpan( this HtmlHelper helper, string linkText, string actionName, string controllerName, object htmlAttributes )
{
    TagBuilder spanBuilder = new TagBuilder( "span" );
    spanBuilder.InnerHtml = linkText;

    return BuildNestedAnchor( spanBuilder.ToString(), string.Format( "/{0}/{1}", controllerName, actionName ), htmlAttributes );
}

private static string BuildNestedAnchor( string innerHtml, string url, object htmlAttributes )
{
    TagBuilder anchorBuilder = new TagBuilder( "a" );
    anchorBuilder.Attributes.Add( "href", url );
    anchorBuilder.MergeAttributes( new ParameterDictionary( htmlAttributes ) );
    anchorBuilder.InnerHtml = innerHtml;

    return anchorBuilder.ToString();
}

Answer 5

Just use Url.Action instead of Html.ActionLink:

<li id="home_nav"><a href="<%= Url.Action("ActionName") %>"><span>Span text</span></a></li>