What is the difference (if any) between Html.Partial(view, model) and Html.RenderPartial(view,model) in MVC2?
The only difference is that Partial returns an MvcHtmlString, and must be called inside <%= %>, whereas RenderPartial returnsvoid and renders directly to the view.
If you look at the source code, you'll see that they both call the same internal method, passing a StringWriter for it to render to.
You would call Partial if you want to view, save, or manipulate the generated HTML instead of writing it to the page.
This is a great explanation by Dino Esposito:
The difference between the two methods may look small and harmless, but it may bite at you if you don’t know how to handle it. The key difference between the two methods is:
Partialreturns a HTML-encoded stringRenderPartialis a void method that writes directly to the response output stream.The usage of the two methods is slightly different:
@Html.Partial("_yourPartialView")@{ Html.RenderPartial("_yourPartialView "); }The choice of which to use depends on your requirements. If you need to further manipulate the string being injected in the response stream, you should use
Partial; otherwise go withRenderPartialwhich is-just because it goes straight to the stream-a little faster thanPartial.In the end, the use-cases for partial views fall in either of two camps. The first is when you create a view by composing together various independent pieces of markup, as below.
<body> @{ Html.RenderPartial("_Header"); } @Html.Partial("_Sidebar") <div class="container body-content"> @RenderBody() </div> @{ Html.RenderPartial("_Footer"); }</body>In this case, your decision in choosing between
RenderPartialorPartialdoesn’t change the final effect. However, becauseRenderPartialis slightly faster, you may prefer using it.
The Html.Partial and Html.RenderPartial are extension method is a reusable portion of a web page. The return type of RenderPartial is void, where as Partial returns MvcHtmlString. Html.RenderAction will render the result directly to the Response Stream (More efficient & fast) whereas Html.Action returns a string (which can be manipulated) with the result.