the RenderSection trick

The RenderSection Razor trick seems kind of hacky. Per this one would do a declaration like this in _Layout.cshtml (the master page):

@RenderSection("SideBar", required: false)

 
 

You may then write contents for the Section anywhere in a view using the master page:

@section SideBar {
   <p>foo</p>
}

 
 

Where the section will end up rendering in the HTML will be driven by where the section is defined in the master page and not the inheriting view!