How to dynamically load aspx code from a database?

Question

I have content like this stored in a database

<p>This a sample text. <%= Html.ActionLink("test", "myaction", "mycontroller") %></p>

The content is part of my data repository, that is the reason I want to keep it inside the database. I would like to know how it is possible to render it and execute it at compile time.

I am using it on an asp.net mvc project.

Thank you.

Answer 1

It sounds like you have a line of markup and source code stored as a string in a location in a table in your database?

Have you considered moving that data/code/values to a web.config instead?

Consider storing your environment config settings in web.config. i.e.

 <appSettings>
   <add Name="IsProduction" value="true" />
   <add Name="RequiresSecure" value="true" />

Your controller and model can read these values, and pass the environment settings along to the view.

When you're writing out those FAQ entries, you can modify the output with a simple if.

<% if (Model.IsProduction) //have your ViewModel pass along whether you're in Production mode, Dev mode, URLs to have SSL, or whatever criteria you like, etc.
{%>
    <!-- my production markup, with image URL, SSL'd etc. -->
    <img src="https://mysite.com/img.png" />
<%}
else  {%>

    <!-- my other Dev markup, with image URL, etc. -->
    <img src="https://myDevServer/img.png" />
<%} %>

It would typically be considered a bad practice, or even a dub-tee-eff, to keep code in your database. Consider the rule of 'keep data in your database'.