A Quick 8 Step Example on How to Add an Area using ASP.NET 4.0 MVC 2 and Visual Studio 2010

Step 1:

Open Visual Studio 2010 and Select “New Project”, ASP.NET MVC2 Web Application




Once the project is created it will look similar to what is shown below.




Step2:

In the Solution Explorer Window Right Click on the Project File and Click “Add”, then click “Area”




Step3:

Enter the Area Name such as “Departments”




Note:

An example of an Area is shown below.



Code Snippet:

public class DepartmentsAreaRegistration : AreaRegistration
{
public override string AreaName
{
get
{
return "Departments";
}
}

public override void RegisterArea(AreaRegistrationContext context)
{
context.MapRoute(
"Departments_default",
"Departments/{controller}/{action}/{id}",
new { action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
);
}
}


In addition to this code there is code in the “Global.asax” that is registering your areas as highlighted below.

protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();

RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}

Step4:

In the Solution Explorer Window Right Click on the Areas/[YourArea]/Controllers and Click “Add”, then click “Controller”. For this example the path would be “Areas/Departments/Controllers/”




Step 5:

REPEAT STEP 4 FOR EACH CONTROLLER NEEDED. For this example create (3) three HR, IT, and Marketing.




Step6:

Next Add a View by right-clicking on the "Index" method in the appropriate controller and selecting “Add View”.








Step7:

REPEAT STEP 6 FOR EACH VIEW NEEDED. For this example create (3) three one for each respective controller.



Note:

Once this is complete you will now see the appropriate structure located in the Views Folder in the Solution Explorer.


Step8:

Run the project and navigate to the appropriate location:

http://localhost:[yourport]/Departments/HR

http://localhost:[yourport]/Departments/IT

http://localhost:[yourport]/Departments/Marketing

Hopefully this guide was useful as a quick 8 Step dive into the New "Areas" introduced with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, ASP.NET and MVC 2.