IIS virtual directory and ASP.NET directory paths

Question

The problem

I'm running into the typical virtual-directory dilemma in that you have some paths on your ASP.Net application and you deploy the app in a IIS virtual directory. Then all paths relatives to the "web root" (f.i., "/images") doesn't work because the app is in a virtual directory path.

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The solutions

A. Make the "images" folder a virtual directory. This way "/images" will always exist.

B. Use "<%=Request.ApplicationPath%>/Imagenes" as the source of my images. This works great in IIS but I can't see it in design-time nor in debug-time.

This solution also include these instructions:

• System.Web.VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute
• ResolveClientUrl
• Request.ApplicationPath

C. Use relatives paths to the current control/page. This is know exactly where the images folder is relative to my current file (without go to the root. So I would use things like "", "../", "../../" and so on.

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The solution I'm looking for

Said that. I don't like these solutions. I would want a solution in the web.config file or in IIS. Some conf intruction I write in the web.config file that tells IIS where my application resides actually (virtual directory).

Any advice?

Answer 1

Are you using the tilde (~) for your paths where you can?

~ refers to the root of the virtual Web application....

~/images for example.

Answer 2

If it's just for css files on the client side then using the url directive makes the path relative to that of the style sheet rather than the page:

h1#title { background: url('dog.gif') no-repeat 0 0; } 

Also if you're on asp.net mvc then you have access to:

<script src="<%= Url.Content("~/scripts/new.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script>