ASP MVC - Using HTML Helpers in a View class library

Question

I am working on a MVC Solution divided in separated assemblies, one of them containing only the views.

The problem I have is about using Html Helpers (written in HTML, not C# classes) in my views ; Razor Intellisense does not find any of my helpers. The helper file (HeaderHelper.cshtml) is located in my App_Code folder.

Here is an example of a Helper I want to use :

<!-- PAGE HEADERS HELPERS -->
@helper HelperPageHeader(String title)
{
    <div class="page-header text-center">
        <h3>@title</h3>
    </div>
}

And here is how I want to call my helper in my view :

@HeaderHelper.HelperPageHeader("Test HeaderHelper")
<div>
    <!-- HTML -->
</div>

But I get the compilation error "The name HeaderHelper does not exist in the current context".

I believe there is no way to set a namespace for my HTML Helper. Perhaps this issue is related to something wrong in my web.config file, here is its content :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="system.web.webPages.razor" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorWebSectionGroup, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
      <section name="host" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
      <section name="pages" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorPagesSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>
  <system.web.webPages.razor>
    <host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
    <pages pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage">
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.WebPages" />
        <add namespace="ViewsLibrary" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
  </system.web.webPages.razor>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="webpages:Version" value="3.0.0.0" />
    <add key="webpages:Enabled" value="false" />
    <add key="MvcSiteMapProvider_UseExternalDIContainer" value="false" />
    <add key="MvcSiteMapProvider_ScanAssembliesForSiteMapNodes" value="true" />
    <add key="MvcSiteMapProvider_IncludeAssembliesForScan" value="ViewsLibrary" />
  </appSettings>
  <system.web>
    <compilation targetFramework="4.5">
      <assemblies>
        <add assembly="MvcSiteMapProvider, Version=4.6.18.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Data.Entity.Design, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Core, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Helpers, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=5.2.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc.Html, Version=5.2.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Optimization, Version=1.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Data.Linq, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <add assembly="Microsoft.AspNet.Identity, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
      </assemblies>
    </compilation>
    <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5" />
    <pages>
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="MvcSiteMapProvider.Web.Html" />
        <add namespace="MvcSiteMapProvider.Web.Html.Models" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <handlers>
      <remove name="BlockViewHandler" />
      <add name="BlockViewHandler" path="*" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.HttpNotFoundHandler" />
    </handlers>
    <modules>
      <remove name="UrlRoutingModule-4.0" />
      <add name="UrlRoutingModule-4.0" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule" />
    </modules>
  </system.webServer>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="WebGrease" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.5.2.14234" newVersion="1.5.2.14234" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-5.2.3.0" newVersion="5.2.3.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
</configuration>

Any ideas ? Thanks in advance for your help !

Answer 1

The @helper directive was removed since beta 4 because it imposed too many restrictions on other Razor features: https://github.com/aspnet/Razor/issues/281.