How to Obtain the ViewModel from a View Component in ASP.NET Core

Discover how to retrieve a View Component's model without rendering HTML in ASP.NET Core applications. Learn with easy steps and examples.
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How to Obtain the ViewModel from a View Component in ASP.NET Core

In many ASP.NET Core applications, developers often utilize view components to encapsulate reusable UI logic. A common requirement is to retrieve the model associated with a view component without generating the entire rendered HTML. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to call a view component and grab only the model data, this guide is for you.

Understanding the Problem

Imagine that you have a view component called MyComponent, which is implemented as follows:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Using the method Component.InvokeAsync, you can invoke the view component from your controller. However, by default, this retrieves the rendered HTML, which isn’t always needed—sometimes, you might only want the view model itself.

The Solution: Calling the View Component from the Controller

Step 1: Invoke the Component in Your Controller

To get started, you can call your view component from the controller using MyComponent.InvokeAsync. However, to specifically retrieve the view model without rendering, you'll have to adjust your approach. Instead of returning a view result, you can access the model directly.

Step 2: Modify the View Component to Expose the Model

In order to get access to the view model directly, you might consider creating a separate method within your view component that provides the model. Here's how you can do that:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Here, instead of returning an IViewComponentResult, you return the specific model you are interested in (in this example, MyViewModel), allowing you to access it directly.

Step 3: Accessing the Model in the Controller

Now that you've set up your view component to expose the model, you can call this method in your controller like so:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Summary

To summarize the steps for obtaining the view model from a view component without generating HTML:

Create a specific method in your view component that returns the model directly.

Invoke this method from your controller to retrieve the model.

By following these steps, you can efficiently get the view model of your view component and use it as needed in your application without the burden of generating unnecessary HTML. This method keeps your code clean and focused on separation of concerns.

Utilizing the approach described here will ensure better data management while also enhancing the design of your ASP.NET Core applications.