How can I use cshtml files with Durandal?

Question

I got the DurandalJS StarterKit template on VS2012... All works great...

But in some views I need to do something like that:

@if (Roles.IsUserInRole(         


        

Answer 1

I made an extension to Durandal which gives you the ability to place an applicationContent div in your cshtml file together with the applicationHost div. In applicationContent you can now use both ASP .Net MVC syntax together with knockout bindings.

Only thing I did was put some extra code in the viewLocator.js file which looks for an applicationContent div:

        locateViewForObject: function(obj, area, elementsToSearch) {
        var view;

        if (obj.getView) {
            view = obj.getView();
            if (view) {
                return this.locateView(view, area, elementsToSearch);
            }
        }

        if (obj.viewUrl) {
            return this.locateView(obj.viewUrl, area, elementsToSearch);
        }

        view = document.getElementById('applicationContent');
        if (view) {
            return this.locateView(view, area, elementsToSearch);
        }

        var id = system.getModuleId(obj);
        if (id) {
            return this.locateView(this.convertModuleIdToViewId(id), area, elementsToSearch);
        }

        return this.locateView(this.determineFallbackViewId(obj), area, elementsToSearch);
    },

Your original cshtml file can now do something like this:

<div class="row underheader" id="applicationContent">
<div class="small-5 columns">
    <div class="contentbox">
        @using (Html.BeginForm("Generate", "Barcode", FormMethod.Post, Attributes.Create()
                                                                                    .With("data-bind", "submit: generateBarcodes")))
        {
            <div class="row formrow">
                <label for="aantalBijlagen">@Translations.Label_AantalBijlagen</label>
            </div>
            <div class="row">
                <select name="aantalBijlagen" class="small-6 columns">
                    <option>0</option>
                    <option>1</option>
                    <option>2</option>
                    <option>3</option>
                    <option>4</option>
                </select>
            </div>
            <div class="row">
                <button class="button right" type="submit" id="loginbutton"><span class="glyphicon glyphicon-cog"></span> @Translations.Action_Generate</button>
            </div>
        }
    </div>
</div>
<div class="small-7 columns" data-bind="if: hasPdfUrl">
    <div class="contentbox lastcontent">
        <iframe data-bind="attr: {src: pdf_url}"></iframe>
    </div>
</div>

You can find my fork of the durandal project here and a small blogpost of what and how I did this here.

Answer 2

I don't recommend that you use .cshtml files as views directly. You're better off placing the .cshtml files behind a controller.

For example, take the HotTowel sample, edit /App/main.js, and replace the function definition with the following:

define(['durandal/app', 
        'durandal/viewLocator', 
        'durandal/system',
        'durandal/plugins/router',
        'durandal/viewEngine', 
        'services/logger'],
function (app, viewLocator, system, router, viewEngine, logger) {

Note that we added a reference to the Durandal viewEngine. Then we need to replace

viewLocator.useConvention();

with

viewLocator.useConvention('viewmodels', '../../dynamic'); 
viewEngine.viewExtension = '/';

The first argument to viewLocation.useConvention sets the /Apps/viewmodels/ directory as the location for the view models js files, but for the view location, uses the URL http://example.com/dynamic/, with an extension of '/'. So that if Durandal is looking for the view named 'shell', it will reference http://example.com/dynamic/shell/ (this is because the view directory is mapped relative to the viewmodels directory, hence /App/viewmodels/../../dynamic will give you simply /dynamic).

By convention, this previous URL (http://example.com/dynamic/shell/) will be mapped to the controller DynamicController, and the action "Shell".

After this, you simply add a controller - DynamicController.cs, like this:

// will render dynamic views for Durandal
public class DynamicController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Shell()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Home()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Nav()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Details()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Sessions()
    {
        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Footer()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

Create .cshtml files for each of the above actions. This way you get to use controllers, server side IoC et al to generate dynamic views for your SPA.