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 + "/"));
}
}
}
Answer
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>