ASP.NET MVC Actions that return different views, or just do a ton of actions?

Question

So, I'm in a situation where I need to display another Role-based view that an authenticated user has.

I am wondering which approach is best here:

[Authorize(Roles="Admin")]
public ActionResult AdminList(int? divID, int? subDivID) 
{
    var data = GetListItems(divID.Value, subDivID.Value);
    return View(data);
}

[Authorize(Roles = "Consultant")]
public ActionResult ConsultantList(int? divID, int? subDivID)
{
    var data = GetListItems(divID.Value, subDivID.Value);
    return View(data);
}            

or should I do something like this

[Authorize]
public ActionResult List(int? divID, int? subDivID)
{
    var data = GetListItems(divID.Value, subDivID.Value);
    if(HttpContenxt.User.IsInRole("Admin")) 
    { return View("AdminList", data ); }

    if(HttpContenxt.User.IsInRole("Consultant")) 
    { return View("ConsultantList", data ); }

    return View("NotFound");
}

Answer 1

In the case where the action is conceptually the same, but the display is different, I will have one action and return different views depending on your discriminator. I would go with a second example, slightly modified. Please note that there is no need to receive data if the user is not in the corresponding role.

[Authorize] 
public ActionResult List(int? divID, int? subDivID) 
{ 
    var view = HttpContext.User.IsInRole("Admin")
                   ? "AdminList"
                   : (HttpContext.User.IsInRole("Consultant")
                         ? "ConsultantList"
                         : null);
    if (view == null)
    {
        return View("NotFound");
    }

    var data = GetListItems(divID.Value, subDivID.Value); 

    return View( view, data );
}

, , , null Nullable<int>, ?

, , .

public string GetRolePrefix()
{
    return HttpContext.User.IsInRole("Admin")
                   ? "Admin"
                   : (HttpContext.User.IsInRole("Consultant")
                         ? "Consultant"
                         : null);
}

...
var prefix = GetRolePrefix();
if (prefix == null)
{
    return View("NotFound");  // more likely "NotAuthorized" ???
}

...get model...

return View( prefix + "List", data );

Answer 2

, , . , .

, ( , IoC):

[Authorize]
public ActionResult List(int? divID, int? subDivID)
{
    var permission = _userService.GetKeyRole(HttpContext.User);
    if(permission != null) 
    {
       var data = GetListItems(divID.Value, subDivID.Value);
       return View(permission + "List", data );
    }
    return View("NotFound");
}

:

public class UserService : IUserService
{
    public string GetKeyRole(IPrincipal user)
    {
        if(user.IsInRole("Admin")) return "Admin";
        if(user.IsInRole("Consultant")) return "Consultant";
        return null;
    }
}

Answer 3

. , Nate, , , , .

[ChildActionOnly]
public ActionResult List(int? divID, int? subDivID) 
{
    var data = GetListItems(divID.Value, subDivID.Value);
    return View(data);
}

[Authorize(Roles="Admin")]
public ActionResult AdminList(int? divID, int? subDivID) 
{
    return List(divID, subDivID);
}

[Authorize(Roles = "Consultant")]
public ActionResult ConsultantList(int? divID, int? subDivID)
{
    return List(divID, subDivID);
}

The trick here is that MVC will try to look for views called the query action, not the one that produces the output. Therefore, when you run AdminList, it will actually return a List action with the AdminList view.

Edit: Was there a downvote for the wrong answer to the question? Let me rephrase my answer.