asp.net mvc 5 action filter that renders view as json

Question

In my asp.net mvc 5 application is it possible to write an action filter that will intercept an ActionResult and return a JsonResult containing the rendered view as an html string and the model as json?

Consider this pseudo code:

JSON(new { html = ViewAsHTMLString, model = this.ViewsViewModel })

Answer 1

I use a simple ActionResult method like this in my application:

 return Json(new
                                        {
                                            result = "fail",
                                            html = Extensions.RenderViewToString(ControllerContext, "_Partial_CreatePageContainer", model),
                                            errors = "This page already exists."
                                        });

I then created 2 extension methods to handle the view rendering:

 public static string RenderViewToString(ControllerContext context, string viewName, object model)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(viewName))
                viewName = context.RouteData.GetRequiredString("action");

            var viewData = new ViewDataDictionary(model);

            using (var sw = new StringWriter())
            {
                var viewResult = ViewEngines.Engines.FindPartialView(context, viewName);
                var viewContext = new ViewContext(context, viewResult.View, viewData, new TempDataDictionary(), sw);
                viewResult.View.Render(viewContext, sw);

                return sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
            }
        }
        public static string RenderViewToString(ControllerContext context, string viewName)
        {
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(viewName))
                viewName = context.RouteData.GetRequiredString("action");

            var viewData = new ViewDataDictionary();

            using (var sw = new StringWriter())
            {
                var viewResult = ViewEngines.Engines.FindPartialView(context, viewName);
                var viewContext = new ViewContext(context, viewResult.View, viewData, new TempDataDictionary(), sw);
                viewResult.View.Render(viewContext, sw);

                return sw.GetStringBuilder().ToString();
            }
        }