Where to put view-specific javascript files in an ASP.NET MVC application?

What is the best place (which folder, etc) to put view-specific javascript files in an ASP.NET MVC application?

To keep my project organized, I'd really love to be able to put them side-by-side with the view's .aspx files, but I haven't found a good way to reference them when doing that without exposing the ~/Views/Action/ folder structure. Is it really a bad thing to let details of that folder structure leak?

The alternative is to put them in the ~/Scripts or ~/Content folders, but is a minor irritation because now I have to worry about filename clashes. It's an irritation I can get over, though, if it is "the right thing."

Solution 1:

Old question, but I wanted to put my answer incase anyone else comes looking for it.

I too wanted my view specific js/css files under the views folder, and here's how I did it:

In the web.config folder in the root of /Views you need to modify two sections to enable the webserver to serve the files:

    <system.web>
        <httpHandlers>
            <add path="*.js" verb="GET,HEAD" type="System.Web.StaticFileHandler" />
            <add path="*.css" verb="GET,HEAD" type="System.Web.StaticFileHandler" />
            <add path="*" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpNotFoundHandler"/>
        </httpHandlers>
        <!-- other content here -->
    </system.web>

    <system.webServer>
        <handlers>
            <remove name="BlockViewHandler"/>
            <add name="JavaScript" path="*.js" verb="GET,HEAD" type="System.Web.StaticFileHandler" />
            <add name="CSS" path="*.css" verb="GET,HEAD" type="System.Web.StaticFileHandler" />
            <add name="BlockViewHandler" path="*" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.HttpNotFoundHandler" />
        </handlers>
        <!-- other content here -->
    </system.webServer>

Then from your view file you can reference the urls like you expect:

@Url.Content("~/Views/<ControllerName>/somefile.css")

This will allow serving of .js and .css files, and will forbid serving of anything else.

Solution 2:

One way of achieving this is to supply your own ActionInvoker. Using the code included below, you can add to your controller's constructor:

ActionInvoker = new JavaScriptActionInvoker();

Now, whenever you place a .js file next to your view:

You can access it directly:

http://yourdomain.com/YourController/Index.js

Below is the source:

namespace JavaScriptViews {
    public class JavaScriptActionDescriptor : ActionDescriptor
    {
        private string actionName;
        private ControllerDescriptor controllerDescriptor;

        public JavaScriptActionDescriptor(string actionName, ControllerDescriptor controllerDescriptor)
        {
            this.actionName = actionName;
            this.controllerDescriptor = controllerDescriptor;
        }

        public override object Execute(ControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary<string, object> parameters)
        {
            return new ViewResult();
        }

        public override ParameterDescriptor[] GetParameters()
        {
            return new ParameterDescriptor[0];
        }

        public override string ActionName
        {
            get { return actionName; }
        }

        public override ControllerDescriptor ControllerDescriptor
        {
            get { return controllerDescriptor; }
        }
    }

    public class JavaScriptActionInvoker : ControllerActionInvoker
    {
        protected override ActionDescriptor FindAction(ControllerContext controllerContext, ControllerDescriptor controllerDescriptor, string actionName)
        {
            var action = base.FindAction(controllerContext, controllerDescriptor, actionName);
            if (action != null)
            {
                return action;
            } 

            if (actionName.EndsWith(".js"))
            {
                return new JavaScriptActionDescriptor(actionName, controllerDescriptor);
            }

            else 
                return null;
        }
    }

    public class JavaScriptView : IView
    {
        private string fileName;

        public JavaScriptView(string fileName)
        {
            this.fileName = fileName;
        }

        public void Render(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer)
        {
            var file = File.ReadAllText(viewContext.HttpContext.Server.MapPath(fileName));
            writer.Write(file);
        }
    }


    public class JavaScriptViewEngine : VirtualPathProviderViewEngine
    {
        public JavaScriptViewEngine()
            : this(null)
        {
        }

        public JavaScriptViewEngine(IViewPageActivator viewPageActivator)
            : base()
        {
            AreaViewLocationFormats = new[]
            {
                "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.js",
                "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.js"
            };
            AreaMasterLocationFormats = new[]
            {
                "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.js",
                "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.js"
            };
            AreaPartialViewLocationFormats = new []
            {
                "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.js",
                "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.js"
            };
            ViewLocationFormats = new[]
            {
                "~/Views/{1}/{0}.js",
                "~/Views/Shared/{0}.js"
            };
            MasterLocationFormats = new[]
            {
                "~/Views/{1}/{0}.js",
                "~/Views/Shared/{0}.js"
            };
            PartialViewLocationFormats = new[]
            {
                "~/Views/{1}/{0}.js",
                "~/Views/Shared/{0}.js"
            };
            FileExtensions = new[]
            {
                "js"
            };
        }

        public override ViewEngineResult FindView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string viewName, string masterName, bool useCache)
        {
            if (viewName.EndsWith(".js"))
                viewName = viewName.ChopEnd(".js");
            return base.FindView(controllerContext, viewName, masterName, useCache);
        }


        protected override IView CreatePartialView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string partialPath)
        {
            return new JavaScriptView(partialPath);
        }

        protected override IView CreateView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string viewPath, string masterPath)
        {
            return new JavaScriptView(viewPath);
        }
    }
}

Solution 3:

You can invert davesw's suggestion and block only .cshtml

<httpHandlers>
    <add path="*.cshtml" verb="*" type="System.Web.HttpNotFoundHandler"/>
</httpHandlers>