asp.net MVC routing - javascript url 404 errors

Question

While developing my app (asp.net mvc3) locally everything was fine using the VS dev app server. The app was located at localhost/. However, I'm attempting to deploy the application on a IIS 7.5 server in a /Management directory and having a lot of routing issues as a few calls in my app rely on the app being at the route.

I have some javascript code that calls my controller through an ajax call that looks like this:

url: "/en/Home/GetFormula/"

I would like it to go to: /Management/en/Home/GetFormula but instead it's going to the root of the site and looking for /en/Home/GetFormula and returning 404 errors.

Any ideas on how I can fix my javascript routing to default /Management/ as the root of the site?

Thanks

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '11 at 23:52

When the pseudo-URL passed to an HTTP request begins with a slash (e.g. "/path/to/resource"), the pseudo-URL is "completed" by treating it as if the given path were under the Web site's root directory (e.g. "http://my.site/path/to/directory").

Clearly, you were expecting the pseudo-URL to be processed as if the given path were under your Web application's root directory. Well, I have bad news for you: The HTTP protocol does not deal with such a thing as a "Web application".

The ASP.NET MVC Framework provides the Url.Content function, which takes pseudo-URLs beginning with a tilde character (e.g., "~/path/to/resource") and returns the result of replacing the tilde character with the Web application's root directory (e.g., "http://my.site/an/application/path/to/resource", assuming the Web application's root directory is "http:/my.site/an/application"). However, the ASP.NET MVC Framework is only available on the server side. If your JavaScript runs on the client side, it cannot call Url.Content.

But not all is lost. The ASP.NET MVC Framework allows you to dynamically generate JavaScript code on the server and run it on the client, the same way it allows you to dynamically generate HTML content and of course send it to the client. That way, you can expand the pseudo-URLs into actual URLs on the server side, and deploy the resulting JavaScript code to the client.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '11 at 23:05

1

To avoid confusion about where you are currently try:

url: document.URL + "/Management/Home/GetFormula"

answered Jul 14 '11 at 23:05

Chris Lucian

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This does not work if the current document's URL is buried deep inside the (possibly virtual) directory structure. – isekaijin Jul 14 '11 at 23:06
Are you trying to get the location of the js file itself? – Chris Lucian Jul 14 '11 at 23:07
I am not trying to do anything. I am not the original poster. – isekaijin Jul 14 '11 at 23:35

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 15 '11 at 15:48

I solved this issue adding a html hidden field on my page where, on the server side, I put the correct url inferred with the Url.RouteUrl method like this:

<input id="MyHiddenFieldName" name="MyHiddenFieldName" type="hidden" value="@Url.RouteUrl(new { area = "MyArea", controller = "MyController", action = "MyAction" />

then, on your javascript code you could do this:

url: $("#MyHiddenFieldName).val()

asp.net MVC routing - javascript url 404 errors

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