Controller Class

Article
02/21/2011

Provides methods that respond to HTTP requests that are made to an ASP.NET MVC Web site.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase
    System.Web.Mvc.Controller
      System.Web.Mvc.AsyncController

Namespace: System.Web.Mvc
Assembly: System.Web.Mvc (in System.Web.Mvc.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public MustInherit Class Controller _
    Inherits ControllerBase _
    Implements IActionFilter, IAuthorizationFilter, IDisposable, IExceptionFilter,  _
    IResultFilter

public abstract class Controller : ControllerBase, 
    IActionFilter, IAuthorizationFilter, IDisposable, IExceptionFilter, IResultFilter

public ref class Controller abstract : public ControllerBase, 
    IActionFilter, IAuthorizationFilter, IDisposable, IExceptionFilter, IResultFilter

The Controller type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	Controller	Initializes a new instance of the Controller class.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	ActionInvoker	Gets the action invoker for the controller.
	Binders	Gets or sets the binder.
	ControllerContext	Gets or sets the controller context. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)
	HttpContext	Gets HTTP-specific information about an individual HTTP request.
	ModelState	Gets the model state dictionary object that contains the state of the model and of model-binding validation.
	Request	Gets the HttpRequestBase object for the current HTTP request.
	Response	Gets the HttpResponseBase object for the current HTTP response.
	RouteData	Gets the route data for the current request.
	Server	Gets the HttpServerUtilityBase object that provides methods that are used during Web request processing.
	Session	Gets the HttpSessionStateBase object for the current HTTP request.
	TempData	Gets or sets the dictionary for temporary data. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)
	TempDataProvider	Gets the temporary-data provider object that is used to store data for the next request.
	Url	Gets the URL helper object that is used to generate URLs by using routing.
	User	Gets the user security information for the current HTTP request.
	ValidateRequest	Gets or sets a value that indicates whether request validation is enabled for this request. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)
	ValueProvider	Gets or sets the value provider for the controller. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)
	ViewData	Gets or sets the dictionary for view data. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)

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Methods

	Name	Description
	Content(String)	Creates a content result object by using a string.
	Content(String, String)	Creates a content result object by using a string and the content type.
	Content(String, String, Encoding)	Creates a content result object by using a string, the content type, and content encoding.
	CreateActionInvoker	Creates an action invoker.
	CreateTempDataProvider	Creates a temporary data provider.
	Dispose()	Releases all resources that are used by the current instance of the Controller class.
	Dispose(Boolean)	Releases unmanaged resources and optionally releases managed resources.
	Equals	Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Execute	Executes the specified request context. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)
	ExecuteCore	Invokes the action in the current controller context. (Overrides ControllerBase.ExecuteCore().)
	File(Byte[], String)	Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents and file type.
	File(Stream, String)	Creates a FileStreamResult object by using the Stream object and content type.
	File(String, String)	Creates a FilePathResult object by using the file name and the content type.
	File(Byte[], String, String)	Creates a FileContentResult object by using the file contents, content type, and the destination file name.
	File(Stream, String, String)	Creates a FileStreamResult object using the Stream object, the content type, and the target file name.
	File(String, String, String)	Creates a FilePathResult object by using the file name, the content type, and the file download name.
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	HandleUnknownAction	Called when a request matches this controller, but no method with the specified action name is found in the controller.
	Initialize	Initializes data that might not be available when the constructor is called. (Overrides ControllerBase.Initialize(RequestContext).)
	JavaScript	Creates a JavaScriptResult object.
	Json(Object)	Creates a JsonResult object that serializes the specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).
	Json(Object, String)	Creates a JsonResult object that serializes the specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format.
	Json(Object, JsonRequestBehavior)	Creates a JsonResult object that serializes the specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format using the specified JSON request behavior.
	Json(Object, String, Encoding)	Creates a JsonResult object that serializes the specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format.
	Json(Object, String, JsonRequestBehavior)	Creates a JsonResult object that serializes the specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format using the specified content type and JSON request behavior.
	Json(Object, String, Encoding, JsonRequestBehavior)	Creates a JsonResult object that serializes the specified object to JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format using the content type, content encoding, and the JSON request behavior.
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	OnActionExecuted	Called after the action method is invoked.
	OnActionExecuting	Called before the action method is invoked.
	OnAuthorization	Called when authorization occurs.
	OnException	Called when an unhandled exception occurs in the action.
	OnResultExecuted	Called after the action result that is returned by an action method is executed.
	OnResultExecuting	Called before the action result that is returned by an action method is executed.
	PartialView()	Creates a PartialViewResult object that renders a partial view.
	PartialView(Object)	Creates a PartialViewResult object that renders a partial view, by using the specified model.
	PartialView(String)	Creates a PartialViewResult object that renders a partial view, by using the specified view name.
	PartialView(String, Object)	Creates a PartialViewResult object that renders a partial view, by using the specified view name and model.
	Redirect	Creates a RedirectResult object that redirects to the specified URL.
	RedirectToAction(String)	Redirects to the specified action using the action name.
	RedirectToAction(String, Object)	Redirects to the specified action using the action name and route values.
	RedirectToAction(String, String)	Redirects to the specified action using the action name and controller name.
	RedirectToAction(String, RouteValueDictionary)	Redirects to the specified action using the action name and route dictionary.
	RedirectToAction(String, String, Object)	Redirects to the specified action using the action name, controller name, and route values.
	RedirectToAction(String, String, RouteValueDictionary)	Redirects to the specified action using the action name, controller name, and route dictionary.
	RedirectToRoute(Object)	Redirects to the specified route using the specified route values.
	RedirectToRoute(String)	Redirects to the specified route using the route name.
	RedirectToRoute(RouteValueDictionary)	Redirects to the specified route using the route dictionary.
	RedirectToRoute(String, Object)	Redirects to the specified route using the route name and route values.
	RedirectToRoute(String, RouteValueDictionary)	Redirects to the specified route using the route name and route dictionary.
	ToString	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider and a prefix.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String[])	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider and included properties.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[])	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider, a prefix, and included properties.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider and a prefix.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String[], IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider and a list of properties to include.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[], String[])	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider, a prefix, a list of properties to exclude, and a list of properties to include.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[], IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider, a prefix, and included properties.
	TryUpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[], String[], IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider, a prefix, a list of properties to exclude , and a list of properties to include.
	TryValidateModel(Object)	Validates the specified model instance.
	TryValidateModel(Object, String)	Validates the specified model instance using an HTML prefix.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider and a prefix.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String[])	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller object's current value provider.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[])	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider, a prefix, and included properties.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider and a prefix.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String[], IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider, a prefix, and a list of properties to include.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[], String[])	Updates the specified model instance using values from the controller's current value provider, a prefix, a list of properties to exclude, and a list of properties to include.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[], IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider, a prefix, and a list of properties to include.
	UpdateModel<TModel>(TModel, String, String[], String[], IValueProvider)	Updates the specified model instance using values from the value provider, a prefix, a list of properties to exclude, and a list of properties to include.
	ValidateModel(Object)	Validates the specified model instance.
	ValidateModel(Object, String)	Validates the specified model instance using an HTML prefix.
	View()	Creates a ViewResult object that renders a view to the response.
	View(Object)	Creates a ViewResult object by using the model that renders a view to the response.
	View(String)	Creates a ViewResult object by using the view name that renders a view.
	View(IView)	Creates a ViewResult object that renders the specified IView object.
	View(String, Object)	Creates a ViewResult object by using the view name and model that renders a view to the response.
	View(String, String)	Creates a ViewResult object using the view name and master-page name that renders a view to the response.
	View(IView, Object)	Creates a ViewResult object that renders the specified IView object.
	View(String, String, Object)	Creates a ViewResult object using the view name, master-page name, and model that renders a view.

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Explicit Interface Implementations

	Name	Description
	IActionFilter.OnActionExecuted	This API supports the MVC infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. This method calls the OnActionExecuted method.
	IActionFilter.OnActionExecuting	This API supports the MVC infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. This method calls the OnActionExecuting method.
	IAuthorizationFilter.OnAuthorization	This API supports the MVC infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. This method calls the OnAuthorization method.
	IController.Execute	Executes the specified request context. (Inherited from ControllerBase.)
	IExceptionFilter.OnException	This API supports the MVC infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. This method calls the OnException method.
	IResultFilter.OnResultExecuted	This API supports the MVC infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. This method calls the OnResultExecuted method.
	IResultFilter.OnResultExecuting	This API supports the MVC infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. This method calls the OnResultExecuting method.

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Remarks

A controller class name must end with "Controller". For example, a Product controller can be named ProductController but not Product or ProductCtrl.

Controller action methods respond to requests that are sent to the controller. Controller action methods have the following restrictions:

Action methods must be public.
Action methods cannot be static.
Action methods cannot have unbounded generic type parameters. An unbounded generic type parameter has an empty parameter list. An unbounded generic type is also known as an open generic type. For information about unbounded generic type parameters, see the section "Unbounded Type Parameters" in Constraints on Type Parameters (C# Programming Guide).
Action methods cannot be overloaded based on parameters. Action methods can be overloaded when they are disambiguated with attributes such as NonActionAttribute or AcceptVerbsAttribute.

The following table lists the types that a controller action method can return and the scenarios for which the types are returned.

Return type	Control action return
void or null	The ControllerActionInvoker object returns an EmptyResult object.
ActionResult	The ControllerActionInvoker object calls the ExecuteResult method on the result.
Object (excluding ActionResult)	The result is passed to a CreateActionResult, which creates a new ContentResult object. The Content method of the ContentResult object is set to the invariant string representation of the returned object.

Examples

A Visual Studio project with source code is available to accompany this topic: Download.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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