asp.net mvc - MVC: How to get controller to render partial view initiated from the view -

in mvc5 project want create menu in partial view. menu dynamic in sense built content in database. have controller taking care of creating menu , returning menu model partial view:

public partialviewresult getmenu() {    menustructuredmodel menustructuredmodel = menubusiness.getstructuredmenu();     return partialview("~/views/shared/menupartial", menustructuredmodel); } 

in partial view called menupartial want use razor iterate on menu items, like:

@model myapp.models.menu.menustructuredmodel  <div class="list-group panel">     @foreach (var category in model.viewtypes[0].categories)     {         <a href="#" class="list-group-item lg-green" data-parent="#mainmenu">@category.shownname</a>     } </div> 

now problem view in insert partial view. if in view do:

@html.partial("menupartial") 

it won't call controller populate model data first. want let controller return partial. don't know how view. in pseudo code like:

@html.renderpartialfromcontroller("/mycontroller/getmenu") 

thanks stephen muecke , erick cortorreal got work.

this controller should like:

[childactiononly] public partialviewresult getmenu() {    menustructuredmodel menustructuredmodel = menubusiness.getstructuredmenu();     return partialview("~/views/shared/menupartial", menustructuredmodel); } 

and may called like:

@html.action("getmenu", "home")

(hence getmenu() declared in homecontroller in example).

the controller called (and model populated) prior partial view rendered.