ASP.NET CORE MVC - Shared\Error.cshtml

Question

Hi,

I'm really new to ASP.NET Core MVC. I normally use ASP.Net Web forms (.Net Framework). One thing I could not figure out about MVC is the out-of-the box project templage (ASP.Net core mvc with .net 9 template in visual studio) has the Error.cshtml view in the Shared folder. This Error.cshtml view is obviously called by Controllers\HomeController. How does the "return View(new ..)" know to render the Error.cshtml view? Where is the setting for this?

When right click the Error() controller > Go to View, it opens the Error.cshtml page.

Thanks in advace

Bob

Answer 1

MVC uses conventions over configuration. The views are filenames. There is a search pattern and order defined to match the view with the action name defined in route table. Shared is one of the paths searched.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/mvc/views/overview?view=aspnetcore-9.0

if you are coming from webforms, you might prefer razor pages. In razor pages the views are compiled and have a code behind. While MVC is stable, razor pages is receiving new features.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/razor-pages/?view=aspnetcore-9.0&tabs=visual-studio

Answer 2

Found it. It's about view discovery.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/mvc/views/overview?view=aspnetcore-9.0#view-discovery