ASP.NET :: MVC :: Layout file

Master pages in MVC are a little different from that of ASP.NET. 

PlaceHolder is the one that holds a page's content inside the master page. In the same way, RequestBody() is the place where the view's data/content is placed and then rendered to the user.

RequestBody() is in the _Layout.cshtml page.

But how is it that MVC knows that it has to start _Layout.cshtml first before anything else is loaded??
That is in a file called _ViewStart.cshtml

This is the code inside it:

@{
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";

}

If we want to override a specific page that we can have a page with the same name in the folder of your views.

Say you have a folder Home and it has Index.cshtml and it should use a Layout called Layout2.cshtml file then create _Layout2.cshtml in the same folder.

You can even do this within the view as well like this:

@{
    ViewBag.Title = "Home Page";
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout2.cshtml";

}