Q:

Viewbag not updating

Currently on the I have some inline javascript, which makes an ajax call to a partial view controller which should have updated the viewbag along with it.  However this does not seem to be the case,  the data seems to persist from the main view which is null because it was never set there and if it was set then the data would still persist(tested).
Here is my javascript ajax call.
  $.ajax({
            url: btn.data('action-url'),
            data: {
                id: btn.data('id')
            },
            type: 'GET',
            success: function (data) {
                //delete all panels before showing new ones
                $('.panel.panel-default').remove();

                //push the new panels into the view
                //$('#dash-content').html(data);

                //Construct the partial view to be input into the main view

                //Checks to see if browser supports templates
                if ('content' in document.createElement('template')) {

                    var widgetModel = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(ViewBag.widgets));

                    for (var i = 0; i < widgetModel.length; i++) {
                        var clone = loadwidgets(widgetModel[i]); //This function is in an external js file
                        var inputDestination = document.querySelector('#col2');
                        inputDestination.appendChild(clone);
                        console.log(inputDestination);
                    }
                }

and here is the Action that it is calling.
  public ActionResult Dashboard(int? id)
    {
        ModelState.Clear();
        //get all widgets associated dashboard
        var getWidgetsQuery = (from widgets in db.widgets
                               where widgets.DashID == id
                               select widgets);

        ViewBag.widgets = getWidgetsQuery.ToList();

        return PartialView();
    }

A:

Add an action to return the data i.e.
  public ActionResult DashboardJson(int? id)
    {
        //get all widgets associated dashboard
        var getWidgetsQuery = (from widgets in db.widgets
                               where widgets.DashID == id
                               select widgets);

        var widgets = getWidgetsQuery;

        return Json(widgets, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
    }

Declare and serialize your model above the json call as you have done:
var widgetModel = @Html.Raw(Json.Encode(ViewBag.widgets));

Then within your success call simply re-assign it to the returned data:
widgetModel = data;

