How to reuse a mvc asp.net function defined in .cshtml file?

Question

I am still new to MVC, and I am trying to figure out how to create functions that get generated inside of the .cshtml file and move them out to a central location so that they can be reused.

For example, using the DevExpress libraries to create grids and popups. This is a column definition for a grid:

    settings.Columns.Add( column => {
        column.ColumnType = MVCxGridViewColumnType.TextBox;
        column.Caption = "Samples";
        column.HeaderStyle.HorizontalAlign = HorizontalAlign.Center;
        column.CellStyle.HorizontalAlign = HorizontalAlign.Center;
        column.SetDataItemTemplateContent( Content => ViewContext.Writer.Write(
            GeneratePopup( "Samples"
                         , DataBinder.Eval( Content.DataItem , "SampleHTML" ).ToString()
                         , "Samp" + DataBinder.Eval( Content.DataItem , "Row" ).ToString()
                         , (bool)DataBinder.Eval( Content.DataItem , "ShowSample" ) , 750 , (string)DataBinder.Eval( Content.DataItem , "SampleCount" ) )
        ) );
    } );

In it it makes a call to "GeneratePopup", which is defined in the .cshtml file as:

@functions {
    private string GeneratePopup(string aTitle , string aString , string aID , bool aShow , int aWidth , string aSuffix ) {

Works great. Except, there is a bunch of functionality in it that I want to reuse in other forms, I don't want to copy GeneratePopup all over the place.

How do I create a central reusable version of GeneratePopup?

Answer 1

You should move the helper to a separate CSHTML file in the App_Code directory.
You can then call it as a static method from any view.

See this blog post, and my in-depth explanation.