Getting the url of an aspx page using the page type

Question

I'm using a web application project.

I have a folder in my web root called Users and in the folder I have a page called UserList.aspx

What I want to be able to do is type in Response.Redirect(Users.UserList.URL)

What I reckon I can probably do is create a class that extends Page and add a static property called URL that calls MethodInfo.GetCurrentMethod().ReflectedType (I think this works haven't tested) and then have that convert Users.UserList -> ~/Users/UserList.aspx

The problems with this method that I know of are one I need to go through every page and make it extend the base class and it doesn't work with any pages that contain a '-' character.

The advantages are that if pages are moved around then there aren't any broken links (Resharper gives out when there is a Page with the wrong namespace).

Also then every individual page that takes query string params could have a static method so that if I want to add/remove params I can see what uses those params etc. Also if I want to call that page I don't have to check the name of the params e.g. UserId userId, Id or id. So that would look something like Users.ViewUser.GetUrl(1) -> ~/Users/ViewUser.aspx?UserId=1

So the question is: Is there a better way of doing this? Or is this a bad idea in principal?

Answer 1

You could just create an extension method for the base Page class that does what you are thinking. That would avoid having to go back and modify the base class for all your pages.

Answer 2

There is a better way. Create a traffic cop that knows about paths. Then if paths change, your data model changes or other stuff you just change that one place. Plus you could have read from a config file and make changes at run time.

Thus your call looks like this:

Repose.Redirect(TrafficCop["Users.UserList"].URL)

or some other way if you don't like the syntax.

Answer 3

The MethodInfo.GetCurrentMethod().ReflectedType doesn't work so I came up with another method of doing this using generics.

Instead of Users.ViewUser.GetUrl() or Users.ViewUser.URL it's GetUrl() For a page with parameters it's still Users.ViewUser.GetUrl(1), it isn't ideal because they should both have the same way of being called but better than strings I guess.

Going to leave the question open for a while just in case.

edidt: I think I will actually just create another method called GetUrl(String getQuery) because if I have two parameters that are of the same type it doesn't work very well.

further edit: I found out how to do exactly what I want to do. created a class called BasePage:Page where T : Page on that are the static methods redirect and geturl each page inherits from the base page as follows: MyPage:BasePage Any page can redirect to that page by using the command MyPage.Redirect();