Differentiating between the two Ajax requests - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am making a search form with in the JqueryUI tabs. The tab contains the Ajax search form and a table showing the results from the search. Also I have used IpagedList to page through the result table.The Index action of the controller contains the Linq query and controls which view to render. Following is the code for Index action:
public ActionResult Index(ConsultantSearch model, int page = 1)
{
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(model.SearchButton) ||!String.IsNullOrEmpty(model.CancelButton))
{
var consultants = from con in db.Consultants
where (model.ConsultantName == null || con.ConsultantName.Contains(model.ConsultantName)) && (model.CompanyID == null || con.CompanyID == model.CompanyID)
&& (model.ClientID == null || con.ClientID == model.ClientID) && (model.VendorID == null || con.VendorID == model.VendorID) && (model.RecruiterID == null || con.RecruiterID == model.RecruiterID)
&& (model.Class == null || con.Class == model.Class) && (model.W2_1099 == null || con.W2_1099 == model.W2_1099) && (model.IsActive == null || con.IsActive == model.IsActive)
&& (model.StartDate == null || model.EndDate == null || (con.StartDate >= model.StartDate && con.EndDate <= model.EndDate))&&( model.StartDate == null || con.StartDate >= model.StartDate) && (model.EndDate == null|| con.EndDate <= model.EndDate)
select con;
consultants = consultants.Include(c => c.Client).Include(c => c.Company).Include(c => c.Recruiter).Include(c => c.SalesPerson).Include(c => c.Vendor);
return PartialView("_ConsultantList",consultants.ToList().ToPagedList(page,RecordsPerPage));
}
else
{
var consultants = db.Consultants.Include(c => c.Client).Include(c => c.Company).Include(c => c.Recruiter).Include(c => c.SalesPerson).Include(c => c.Vendor);
return PartialView(consultants.ToList().ToPagedList(page, RecordsPerPage));
}
}
When the user first loads the page the else part executes which renders the partial view Index which shows the form and the table showing all consultants currently in Database. However when the search button or cancel button is clicked the if condition gets true and the partial view Consultant list is rendered. Which updates only the result table part of the page.
Now my question is I want to add a condition in which when the paging control is used the If condition gets true and only the next page of consultant records in the result table are shown. I can use isAjaxRequest() in the If condition. But the problem is when the JqueryUI tab (containing the from and table) will load the If condition will become true because of the isAjaxRequest() and only Consultant List view will be rendered which I do not want.
So basically I want to differentiate between the two ajax requests..If the ajax request is for the tabs then the else condition should work and if it is from paging then the if condition should work.
Any ideas...?

Answer 1

Redesign your controller action method. Instead of placing conditional logic in your controller add an action method for each condition you need to satisfy and put the logic of which one to request in the view/markup.
The best way to tell if you should load your consultant grid or a paged view of some search results is if the view/JavaScript performs an ajax request to the appropriate action method.