What is the difference between ‘ViewResult’ and ‘ActionResult’?

In ASP.NET MVC, both ViewResult and ActionResult are classes that represent the result of an action method. The primary difference between them lies in their level of abstraction.

  1. ActionResult:

    ActionResult is the base class for all action results in ASP.NET MVC. It provides a high level of abstraction, allowing action methods to return various types of results, such as ViewResult, RedirectResult, JsonResult, etc.

    When we define an action method, we can use ActionResult as the return type, providing flexibility to return different types of results based on the specific requirements of our action.

    Example:

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    public ActionResult MyAction()
{
    // ... logic ...
    return View(); // Returning a ViewResult
}

  2. ViewResult:

    ViewResult is a derived class of ActionResult specifically designed for returning a view from an action method. It represents the result of rendering a view.

    When we want an action method to render a view, we can use ViewResult as the return type. This class allows we to set properties related to the view, such as the view name, model, and view data.

    Example:

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    public ViewResult MyViewAction()
{
    // ... logic ...
    return View("MyView", myModel); // Returning a ViewResult with view name and model
}

ActionResult is a more general type that allows we to return various types of results.

ViewResult provides a bit more clarity in our code when we specifically want to indicate that our action method is rendering a view.