MVC Partial Views in Site.Master - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am trying to render a partial view in my Site.Master file but I keep on getting an error (Object reference not set to an instance of an object). If I access the view directly, I get the info that I need, but if I access the Index View from the HomeController, I get an error. The partial view will display the logged in user, department, and role. This is my code.
Controllers Folder
-HomeController.cs
-UsersController.cs
Models
-Repository Folder
- UersRepository.cs
-Repository Interface Folder
- IUsers.cs
-Service Folder
- UsersService.cs
- IUserService.cs
-Validation Folder
- IValidationDictionary
- ModelStateWrapper
The view that I'm trying to partially render is called LoginInfo.ascx and it's located in the Shared Folder.
LoginInfo.cs Code:
<%# Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl<IEnumerable<Users>>" %>
<%# Import Namespace="TimeAttendanceMVC.Models"%>
<table>
<tr>
<th>
UserName
</th>
<th>
Department
</th>
<th>
UserType
</th>
</tr>
<% foreach (var item in Model) { %>
<tr>
<td>
<%: Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.UserName) %>
</td>
<td>
<%: Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.Department) %>
</td>
<td>
<%: Html.DisplayFor(modelItem => item.UserType) %>
</td>
</tr>
<% } %>
</table>
Site.Master Code:
<% Html.RenderPartial("LoginInfo"); %>
UserController.cs
public class UsersController : Controller
{
//
private IUsersService _service;
//==============================================================================
//==============================================================================
public UsersController()
{
_service = new UsersService(new ModelStateWrapper(this.ModelState));
}
public UsersController(IUsersService service)
{
_service = service;
}
//==============================================================================
//==============================================================================
// GET: /Employee/
//==============================================================================
//==============================================================================
// GET: /Employee/
public ActionResult Index()
{
var model = _service.Return_UserName_Dept();
return View("LoginInfo", model);
}
}
HomeController.cs
public ActionResult Index()
{
//var model = _service.Return_UserName_Dept();
//return View(model);
return View();
}
With the code above, I get an error. If I un-comment the 2 lines in my HomeController and I pass the model to the View, then it works fine. But my HomeController will need a different model, so how will I pass 2 models to the View?
Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I'm still learning MVC right now so I'm not that good at this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

Calling RenderPartial renders the view directly, inheriting the parent's model.
You should call RenderAction instead to render a child action so that the action can pass the correct model to the partial view.

Answer 2

Your Controller is able to pass a single Model to the View for rendering. Rather than attempting to have two models, or to call two Action Methods in a request with RenderAction, have you considered creating a parent ViewModel type?
// This model is passed to your view for rendering
public class MyViewModel
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public DateTime Date { get; set; }
// This property is passed as the model to your partial view
public UserInfo UserInfo { get; set; }
}
public ActionResult Index()
{
var model = new MyViewModel(); // _service.GetIndexViewModel();
model.UserInfo = _service.Return_UserName_Dept();;
return View(model);
}
Then in your View, you would do something like:
<% Html.RenderPartial("LoginInfo", Model.UserInfo); %>