Navigating between different Views from two different Application Projects within a Solution in MVC ASP.NET

Question

I have a Project going on in which I will have to develop Two Applications. I am using n-tier Artitecture and have following Projects in A Solution

1. DAL
2. BLL
3. BusinessEntities
4. Application1
5. Application2

Now I want to Know How can I navigate between the views of these two Applications Normally we do the following to navigate within an Application

@Url.Action("ActionName", "ControllerName", OtherStuff..)

Now How can I navigate from action of one Application to action in Second Application. Thanks

Answer 1

1. i usually use areas for handle this.

       var url = Url.Action("Index", "Home", new {Area = "Myarea"});
       var url = Url.Action("Index", "Home", new {Area = "area2"});
   

2. if u like your add other projects like this way u can use Custom ViewEngine. in this way first add route rules like this :

   routes.MapRoute(
          name: "app",
          url: "{application}/{controller}/{action}/{id}",
          defaults: new {application = "MyApplication1", controller = "Panel", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
          );
   

second: add virtual paths of ur app :

 public class CustomAreaViewEngine : VirtualPathProviderViewEngine
{
    public CustomAreaViewEngine()
    {
        MasterLocationFormats = new string[]
        {
            "~/Views/{1}/{0}.master",
        "~/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Views/Shared/{0}.master",
        "~/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.master",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.master",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.master",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.master",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.master",
        "~/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.master",
        "~/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.master",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.master",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",

        };
        ViewLocationFormats = new string[]
        {
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.aspx",
        "~/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.ascx",
        "~/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.aspx",
        "~/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.ascx",
        "~/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.aspx",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.ascx",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.aspx",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.ascx",
        "~/{2}/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Views/{1}/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Views/{1}/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Views/{1}/{0}.cshtml",
        "~/Views/Shared/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Views/Shared/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Views/Shared/{0}.cshtml"
        };
        PartialViewLocationFormats = ViewLocationFormats;
    }

and u sould change global.asax :

 protected void Application_Start()
    {
        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
        FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
        RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);

        ViewEngines.Engines.Clear();
        ViewEngines.Engines.Add(new CustomAreaViewEngine());
    }

and finally u should implement ur controller in main application namespace. Do you still need to explain this way?

if u want u can develop CustomAreaViewEngine that can put ur applications to a custom directory like MyModules.