I think you are attacking it from the wrong angle by trying to encode all posted data.
Note that a "<
" could also come from other outside sources, like a database field, a configuration, a file, a feed and so on.
Furthermore, "<
" is not inherently dangerous. It's only dangerous in a specific context: when writing strings that haven't been encoded to HTML output (because of XSS).
In other contexts different sub-strings are dangerous, for example, if you write an user-provided URL into a link, the sub-string "javascript:
" may be dangerous. The single quote character on the other hand is dangerous when interpolating strings in SQL queries, but perfectly safe if it is a part of a name submitted from a form or read from a database field.
The bottom line is: you can't filter random input for dangerous characters, because any character may be dangerous under the right circumstances. You should encode at the point where some specific characters may become dangerous because they cross into a different sub-language where they have special meaning. When you write a string to HTML, you should encode characters that have special meaning in HTML, using Server.HtmlEncode. If you pass a string to a dynamic SQL statement, you should encode different characters (or better, let the framework do it for you by using prepared statements or the like)..
When you are sure you HTML-encode everywhere you pass strings to HTML, then set ValidateRequest="false"
in the <%@ Page ... %>
directive in your .aspx
file(s).
In .NET 4 you may need to do a little more. Sometimes it's necessary to also add <httpRuntime requestValidationMode="2.0" />
to web.config (reference).
Just include the path to the view, with the file extension.
Razor:
@Html.Partial("~/Views/AnotherFolder/Messages.cshtml", ViewData.Model.Successes)
ASP.NET engine:
<% Html.RenderPartial("~/Views/AnotherFolder/Messages.ascx", ViewData.Model.Successes); %>
If that isn't your issue, could you please include your code that used to work with the RenderUserControl?
Best Solution
How about creating an HtmlHelper extension method that allows you to call a partial view result on the an action on the controller.
Something like
you could then use this in your master page like
and in your controller the appropriate method
Well that is my 2 cents anyway