>Hi,
>I am looking at the training video (Pluralsight) on APS.NET MVC Basics (produced in 2009) the demo project. The Views folder has Home folder and Shared folder. The Home folder is clear, it has view files for each view the project needs.
>
>The Shared folder has page Site.Master which is the master page used by all views.
>
>In the current version of VS 2012, when I create a test ASP.NET MVC project, the Shared folder has file _Layout.cshtml.
>
>What is the purpose of _Layout.cshtml?
>
>And does it mean that VS 2012 does not automatically create file Site.Master (master page for the project) and I have to create it manually?
_Layout.cshtml is the razor equivalent of a master page. If it's created by VS then the content will vary depending on the type of project you create.
Take this example (from Internet application which adds in a basic login functionality:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>@ViewBag.Title - My ASP.NET MVC Application</title>
<link href="~/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
@Styles.Render("~/Content/css")
@Scripts.Render("~/bundles/modernizr")
</head>
<body>
<header>
<div class="content-wrapper">
<div class="float-left">
<p class="site-title">@Html.ActionLink("your logo here", "Index", "Home")</p>
</div>
<div class="float-right">
<section id="login">
@Html.Partial("_LoginPartial")
</section>
<nav>
<ul id="menu">
<li>@Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home")</li>
<li>@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home")</li>
<li>@Html.ActionLink("Contact", "Contact", "Home")</li>
</ul>
</nav>
</div>
</div>
</header>
<div id="body">
@RenderSection("featured", required: false)
<section class="content-wrapper main-content clear-fix">
@RenderBody()
</section>
</div>
<footer>
<div class="content-wrapper">
<div class="float-left">
<p>© @DateTime.Now.Year - My ASP.NET MVC Application</p>
</div>
</div>
</footer>
@Scripts.Render("~/bundles/jquery")
@RenderSection("scripts", required: false)
</body>
</html>Any views you create will, by default be slotted into the area defined by @RenderBody(). You'll also see things like the '@RenderSection("featured", required: false)' above. This says that there doesn't HAVE to be a 'featured' section in your view but, if there is, that's where it will go.
This explains the basics pretty well :http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2010/12/30/asp-net-mvc-3-layouts-and-sections-with-razor.aspx
