Absolute URL in ASP bundle

Question

I use a jQuery library for Google Maps, and it depends on the Google scripts to be loaded first. I'd like to be able to include both in the bundle as such:

  bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("myfoobundle").Include(
    "http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false&libraries=places",
    "~/scripts/jquery.fooplugin-{version}.js"
  ));

This doesn't seem to work (throws an exception complaining about the first string). And one may say that this shouldn't work because that absolute URL is not meant to be minified/bundled.

But the current approach is a hassle, as I need to ensure that the dependencies are correct, and that happens in different places (half the problem in the bundling code, the other half in the view).

Would be nice to have a 1-step solution as above. Do I have any options in this regard?

UPDATE:

To address the comments regarding using a CDN as a solution: if I specify bundles.UseCdn = true it has no effect, and I still get the exception The URL 'http://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false&libraries=places' is not valid. Only application relative URLs (~/url) are allowed. Also I'm unsure what the implication of doing that is in the first place, because I already use CDN support for jQuery, etc., so unsure how that would conflict with my use case.

Answer 1

If you are using a version of System.Web.Optimization >= 1.1.2, there is a new convenient way of overriding the url's for Styles and Scripts. In the example below, I am grabbing a CdnBaseUrl from web.config to use as the base url for all scripts and stylesheets:

public class BundleConfig
{
    private static readonly string BaseUrl = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["CdnBaseUrl"];

    public static void RegisterBundles(BundleCollection bundles)
    {
        // This is the new hotness!!
        Styles.DefaultTagFormat = "<link href=\"" + BaseUrl + "{0}\" rel=\"stylesheet\"/>";
        Scripts.DefaultTagFormat = "<script src=\"" + BaseUrl + "{0}\"></script>";

        bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/js").Include(
            "Your scripts here..."
        ));

        bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/bundles/css").Include(
            "Your css files here..."
        ));
    }
}

More info on static site (CDN) optimization