PJax not working with MVC project - pjax

Question

I've followed the samples. I added a _PjaxLayout:
<title>#ViewBag.Title</title>
#RenderBody()
Modified my _Layout:
<div id="shell">
#RenderBody()
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function () {
// pjax
$.pjax.defaults.timeout = 5000;
$('a').pjax('#shell');
})
</script>
Updated ViewStart:
#{
if (Request.Headers["X-PJAX"] != null) {
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_PjaxLayout.cshtml";
} else {
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
}
Yet every time I click on an 'a' tag, the pjax code doesn't get called. It's as if the selector isn't working when I set up pjax. What am I doing wrong?
UPDATE:
If I do this:
$('document').ready(function () {
$('a').pjax({
container: '#shell',
timeout: 5000
});
});
I see the pjax code getting hit and the Request headers get updated, and the new content loads on the page, but the styling and layout get really messed up and duplicated...
UPDATE:
Inspecting the DOM after this craziness happens reveals that the new page content is getting loaded directly into the anchor that I click, instead of into the element with id #shell. WTF?

Answer 1

You are using a legacy syntax, the new pjax uses the following:
$(document).pjax('a', '#shell', { fragment: '#shell' });
Also I am not familiar with the language you use, but in order to make pjax happen there has to be an HTML element with the id shell in your ViewStart.
As I am not sure about the syntax in that language, try something similar to this for testing:
#{
if (Request.Headers["X-PJAX"] != null) {
echo "<ul id="shell"> pjaaxxx </ul>"; // Would work in php, update syntax
} else {
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
}

Answer 2

I am not seeing that syntax as valid in the PJax documentation.
Are you sure you didn't mean $(document).pjax('a',{});?
$.pjax immediately executes from what I can tell.