How to render a Link Field with inner elements in .cshtml

Question

As we know, we can use this to render General Link fields in our views:

@Html.Sitecore().Field("Field Name", sourceItem)`

This will generate the usual output:

<a attribute="" another-attribute="">Link Text</a>

What if I want the rendered link to contain inner HTML such as a <span>?

Answer 1

This format can be used:

@using Sitecore.Mvc.Helpers

@{
    Sitecore.Data.Fields.LinkField linkField = sourceItem.Fields["Link1"];

    // Do some validation
}

...

@Html.Sitecore().BeginField("Field Name", sourceItem, new { haschildren = true, @class = "class-one class-two" })
    <span>@linkField.Text</span>
@Html.Sitecore().EndField()

Check out the official Sitecore documentation about how to access Link Field properties

As a side note, you should use the built in field renderers as often as possible; especially with links. A very common issue is that developers forget to add link field attributes such target="" and title="". By using the field renderer you can be certain that all of the attributes that have values will come through.

Answer 2

One very simple way would be:

@Html.Sitecore().Field(linkfieldName, new { text = "something" })

Answer 3

If you know the HTML already and also link field is specific no other changes then easy solution similar to Debu suggested -

@Html.Sitecore().Field(GLink.Fields.Link.ToString(), Model.Item,
  new
    {
       text = <span> Model.Item.LinkFieldOptions(GLink.Fields.Link, LinkFieldOption.Text) </span>
    })

Here LinkFieldOptions is an extension method which provide you more flexibility with other attributes too -

public static string LinkFieldOptions(this Item item, ID fieldId, LinkFieldOption option)
        {
            XmlField field = item?.Fields[fieldId];
            if (field == null)
            {
                return string.Empty;
            }

            switch (option)
            {
                case LinkFieldOption.Text:
                    return field.GetAttribute("text");
                case LinkFieldOption.LinkType:
                    return field.GetAttribute("linktype");
                case LinkFieldOption.Class:
                    return field.GetAttribute("class");
                case LinkFieldOption.Alt:
                    return field.GetAttribute("title");
                case LinkFieldOption.Target:
                    return field.GetAttribute("target");
                case LinkFieldOption.QueryString:
                    return field.GetAttribute("querystring");
                default:
                    throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(option), option, null);
            }
        }

Answer 4

Regarding the previous answer - Try to write an extension. You will end up in a position to reuse this functionality everywhere else, without writing the same stuff again and again

public static HtmlString Field(this ScHelper helper, string fieldName, Item item, object parameters, string html)
{
    if (helper == null)
    {
        throw new ArgumentNullException("helper is null");
    }
    if (html.IsNullOrEmpty())
    {
        return helper.Field(fieldName, item, parameters);
    }
    return new HtmlString(helper.BeginField(fieldName, item, parameters).ToString() + html + helper.EndField().ToString());
}