HtmlExtensions.cs

namespace Net.SyntaxC4.Blog.Examples
{
    using System;
    using System.Linq.Expressions;
    using System.Web.Mvc;
    using System.Web.Mvc.Html;
    using System.Web.Routing;

    public static class HtmlExtensions
    {
        public static MvcHtmlString ActionLinkWithSpan(this HtmlHelper html, 
  				    string linkText, 
					    string actionName, 
					    string controllerName, 
					    object htmlAttributes)
        {
            RouteValueDictionary attributes = new RouteValueDictionary(htmlAttributes);
    
            TagBuilder linkTag = new TagBuilder("a");
            TagBuilder spanTag = new TagBuilder("span");
            spanTag.SetInnerText(linkText);

            // Merge Attributes on the Tag you wish the htmlAttributes to be rendered on.
            //linkTag.MergeAttributes(attributes);
            spanTag.MergeAttributes(attributes);

            UrlHelper url = new UrlHelper(html.ViewContext.RequestContext);
            
            linkTag.Attributes.Add("href", url.Action(actionName, controllerName));
            linkTag.InnerHtml = spanTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal);
            
            return MvcHtmlString.Create(linkTag.ToString(TagRenderMode.Normal));
        }
    }
}