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Relative Content Path in MVC3 Areas

I found this question Can't use relative paths with areas in ASP.NET MVC 2 which is the same issue I am having. Is this still the case in MVC3?

Is there a way to keep content files in an area relative to the area?

So that a layout file in an area can have something like

Without having to either make a fully qualified link, requiring the areas directory and the area name or the solution of the above question which requires a check for each area on each request.

update/edit

I've decided to use both the solution in the above question and the one below (html helper) - depending on the project/situation. My implementation of the above uses app.setting to store the area names and the extensions so that I can just have the module as part of my library.

var context = HttpContext.Current;
var path = context.Request.Path;
var list = ...       //code that gets from app.config and then saves it
var extensions = ... // to the cache as non-removable with a dependency on web.config
foreach (var area in list)
{
   if (!path.Contains(area + "/")) continue;
   foreach (var extension in extensions)
   {
      if (path.EndsWith("." + extension))
      {
         context.RewritePath(path.Replace(area + "/", "Areas/" + area + "/"));
      }

    }
 }
like image 337
Tony Basallo Avatar asked Feb 26 '11 22:02

Tony Basallo


4 Answers

I personally like the extension method route, based on the first answer I came up with this and tested that it works ... Instead of using @Url.Content, use @Url.ContentArea and no need to put in '~/', '/' or '../', etc..

The helper does some checking to automatically remove these, so just use is like this ...

@Url.ContentArea("Content/style.css") or @Url.ContentArea("Images/someimage.png") :)

When you create this Url Helper Extension, your choice, but I created a 'Helpers' folder off the root of the web then I include the @using YourWebNameSpace.Helpers; in my _Layout.cshtml (razor/masterpage) in whatever 'Area' I am in.

You can still use @Url.Content for references outside the current area (basically you can mix based on the resource needed and its location).

namespace YourWebNamespace.Helpers
{
    public static class UrlHelperExtensions
    {
        public static string ContentArea(this UrlHelper url, string path)
        {
            var area = url.RequestContext.RouteData.DataTokens["area"];

            if (area != null)
            {
                if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(area.ToString()))
                    area = "Areas/" + area;

                // Simple checks for '~/' and '/' at the
                // beginning of the path.
                if (path.StartsWith("~/"))
                    path = path.Remove(0, 2);

                if (path.StartsWith("/"))
                    path = path.Remove(0, 1);

                path = path.Replace("../", string.Empty);

                return VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/" + area + "/" + path);
            }

            return string.Empty;
        }
    }
}

in your master page, or any page (Razor only for this example) ...

@using YourWebNamespace.Helpers

<html lang="en">
<head>

    <link href="@Url.ContentArea("Content/reset.css")" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

    <link href="@Url.ContentArea("Content/style.css")" media="screen" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

</head>
<body>
like image 196
dbrzo Avatar answered Nov 03 '22 19:11

dbrzo


You can try creating an extention on HtmlHelper to work this out:

public static string Image(this HtmlHelper html, string imagePath)
{
    var area = html.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["area"];
    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(area))
        area = "Areas/" + area + "/";
    return VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/" + area + "Content/img/" + imagePath);
}

so in your view you can use:

<img src="@Html.Image("myimage.png")" alt="..." />

I didn't try the code so correct me if I'm wrong.

like image 37
Eduardo Campañó Avatar answered Nov 03 '22 21:11

Eduardo Campañó


I tried the UrlHelperExtensions above for some images which I use in my masterpage as data for a jQuery scrolling banner. I had to add the following else clause so that the helper would return tha path when there was no area:

        else
        {
            if (path.StartsWith(@"~/"))
            {
                var result = VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute(path);
                return result;
            }
        }

        return string.Empty;

In my view page I used:

<img src="@Url.ContentArea("~/images/ScrollPicture1.png")" alt="Gallery picture 1" />

Thanks for posting this solution. Works great with my fix for images.

like image 1
n8nt Avatar answered Nov 03 '22 20:11

n8nt


I just had a similar problem in a style sheet that I solved by just putting in both relative paths:

#searchbox {
    ...
    background: url("../Content/magglass.png") no-repeat;
    background: url("../../Content/magglass.png") no-repeat;
    ...
}
like image 1
user1227068 Avatar answered Nov 03 '22 21:11

user1227068