How to Include Multiple Javascript Files in .NET (Like they do in rails)

Question

I'm jealous of the rails guys. They can do this:

<%= javascript_include_tag "all_min" %>

... and I'm stuck doing this:

<script src="/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.tablesorter.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.tablehover.pack.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.validate.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.form.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/public/javascript/jquery/application.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

Are there any libraries to compress, gzip and combine multiple js files? How about CSS files?

Answer 1

You can use a ScriptManager/ScriptManagerProxy control and define the scripts in the CompositeScript section/property. See MSDN reference.

<asp:ScriptManager runat="server">
    <CompositeScript>
        <Scripts>
            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.js" />
            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.tablesorter.js" />
            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.tablehover.pack.js" />
            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.validate.js" />
            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/public/javascript/jquery/jquery.form.js" />
            <asp:ScriptReference Path="~/public/javascript/jquery/application.js" />
        </Scripts>
    </CompositeScript>
</asp:ScriptManager>

It doesn't necessarily clean up the markup any, but it does zip them together.

Answer 2

Combres does bundling, versioning, minification and caching of JavaScript and CSS resources. It's very configurable and performant.