Viewstart Page in ASP.NET MVC 3

_Viewstart Page in ASP.NET MVC 3

• The _ViewStart.cshtml page is a special view page containing the statement declaration to include the Layout page.
  
  
• Instead of declaring the Layout page in every view page, we can use the _ViewStart page.
  
  
• When a View Page Start is running, the “_ViewStart.cshtml” page will assign the Layout page for it.
  
  
• So the application will be less maintainable.

How to create _Viewstart page

• Add a View named _ViewStart to the project. (Remember the name “_ViewStart” is important.)
  
  
  
  Note: If it already exists, do not add any more.
  
  
  
  Let’s see its effect. There is no statement to include “Layout.cshtml”.
  
  
  
  Run the application and watch the output.
  
  
  
  
• This is because the Layout file is included at the “_ViewStart.cshtml“ page.
  
  
  
  Let’s comment out the code line in the _ViewStart page and run the application again and watch the output.
  
  
  
  Run the application.
  
  
  
  Note: You can also explicitly add the Layout.cshtml page to the Target page.
  
  

So the Benefit of the _ViewStart.cshtml page is:

• Instead of declaring the Layout page individually in every page, we can include it on one place only.
  
  
• So the application became maintainable.
  
  
• You can still add another page as your Layout page to individual pages, regardless of your _ViewStart page.

So remove the Layout page the declaration from individual pages and put it in the “_ViewStart.cshtml” page only.



Watch the difference.



Run the application: