I need to render certain admin pages, such as the invoice, into a PDF via a direct url. But the pages cannot be secured, or the PDF engine won't be able to reach them. So I can't create the page in the /Areas/Admin/ portion of the application.

In Able Gold, the solution was relatively simple. I install the ABCPdf library, copy the Invoice page to a root folder like /PdfOutput/, copy the .master layout file as well, and I'm done. I can now render what was originally designed in the admin via a direct url as an anonymous user. As an added bonus, I can now make edits to these pdf-specific pages without impacting the existing admin page or layout.

But in MVC how would I do this? This does not seem to be doable. I can create a shopper-side controller, create a view and copy the original admin invoice view file over. Make a few adjustments and the view content will render on a direct url without requiring permissions. But there are no CSS references in the page source. I suspect that's because I'm returning PartialView() and not View()?

I did set the controller to inherit AbleAdminController thinking that would force the admin CSS to be populated. Returning PartialView() didn't change anything there. But if I change to return View("_whatever", model), that did get me some CSS references. But they look like they're from the store theme, not the admin theme.

I guess what I'm asking is: how do I make a page on the shopper side use the admin theme instead of the store theme?

That's a great idea. Thanks!

And the next gotcha...

The BundleConfig.cs specifies a bunch of StyleBundle() entries using a generic virtual path name. The problem is, so is the admin theme. If you don't change the virtual path names to include your Area name, your new area pages wind up pulling the first virtual path bundle declared which is from the /Areas/Admin/ path. So you have to modify all the bundle virtual path names to include your area name, then modify _Layout.cshtml to use the new bundle virtual paths.