Paging on Partial View - asp.net

Question

I have a main view with a partial view.
The partial view allows paging, I am using Bootstrap.
Controller:
public ActionResult Main()
{
return View();
}
//[ChildActionOnly]
public ActionResult _Partial(int page)
{
Model = //returns records for requested page
return View(Model);
}
View:
<ul class="pagination">
#for (int i = 1; i <= model.TotalPages; i++)
{
<li>#Html.ActionLink(i.ToString(), "_Partial", new { page = i, })</li> }
}
</ul>
My problem is, although the paging works, selecting a page is calling the _Partial Action directly ( after I removed [ChildActionOnly]
So on paging it loads the Partial View only without the Main View which it forms part of...therefor it is missing the 'frame' provided by the Main View or any formatting.
Should I be following a different approach or is there a way to call a Partial Action and it’s Main Action?
I guess I would have liked to do something like…
<li>#Html.ActionLink(i.ToString(), "Main + _Partial", new { page = i, })</li>
Or how can I get Bootstrap Paging (I don't want to go the Ajax route) to work on a Partial View?

Answer 1

If you don't want to use ajax, then you have to return the whole page. Here an example for your case:
Controller:
public ActionResult Main()
{
return View();
}
public ActionResult SomeAction(int page) //Name this as your like
{
// I use viewbag here for convenience,
//you should consider to create new view model if necessary.
ViewBag.PageNum = page;
return View();
}
//[ChildActionOnly]
public ActionResult _Partial(int page)
{
Model = //returns records for requested page
return View(Model);
}
View "SomeAction.cshtml":
#*Put your Main page content here*#
#Html.Action("SomeAction", "YourControllerName", new { page = ViewBag.PageNum })
#*Put your Main page content here*#
And Your pagination should change to:
<ul class="pagination">
#for (int i = 1; i <= model.TotalPages; i++)
{
<li>#Html.ActionLink(i.ToString(), "SomeAction", new { page = i, })</li> }
}
</ul>
Keep in mind that I created the "SomeAction" only because I don't know what exactly does your "Main" action do. If the "Main" is simply the 1st page, then you should merge the "SomeAction" and "Main" into one:
public ActionResult Main(int page = 1)
{
ViewBag.PageNum = page;
return View();
}