How to I find the absolute url of an action in ASP.NET MVC?

Question

I need to do something like this:

<script type="text/javascript">
    token_url = "http://example.com/your_token_url";
</script>

I'm using the Beta version of MVC, but I can't figure out how to get the absolute url of an action. I'd like to do something like this:

<%= Url.AbsoluteAction("Action","Controller")) %>

Is there a helper or Page method for this?

Answer 1

I'm not sure if there is a built in way to do it, but you could roll your own HtmlHelper method.

Something like the following

namespace System.Web.Mvc
{
    public static class HtmlExtensions
    {
        public static string AbsoluteAction(this HtmlHelper html, string actionUrl)
        {
            Uri requestUrl = html.ViewContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;

            string absoluteAction = string.Format("{0}://{1}{2}",
                                                  requestUrl.Scheme,
                                                  requestUrl.Authority,
                                                  actionUrl);

            return absoluteAction;
        }
    }
}

Then call it like this

<%= Html.AbsoluteAction(Url.Action("Dashboard", "Account"))%> »

HTHs, Charles

Answer 2

Better yet, extend the UrlHelper - doh!

namespace System.Web.Mvc
{
    public static class HtmlExtensions
    {
        public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string action, string controller)
        {
            Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;

            string absoluteAction = string.Format("{0}://{1}{2}",
                                                  requestUrl.Scheme,
                                                  requestUrl.Authority,
                                                  url.Action(action, controller));

            return absoluteAction;
        }
    }
}

Then call it like this

<%= Url.AbsoluteAction("Dashboard", "Account")%>

:-)

Answer 3

Same result but a little cleaner (no string concatenation/formatting):

public static Uri GetBaseUrl(this UrlHelper url)
{
    Uri contextUri = new Uri(url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url, url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.RawUrl);
    UriBuilder realmUri = new UriBuilder(contextUri) { Path = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.ApplicationPath, Query = null, Fragment = null };
    return realmUri.Uri;
}

public static string ActionAbsolute(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, string controllerName)
{
    return new Uri(GetBaseUrl(url), url.Action(actionName, controllerName)).AbsoluteUri;
}

Answer 4

Using @Charlino 's answer as a guide, I came up with this.

The ASP.NET MVC RC1 source code for UrlHelper shows that Url.Action will return a fully-qualified Url if a hostname and protocol are passed in. I created these helpers to force the hostname and protocol to be provided. The multiple overloads mirror the overloads for Url.Action:

using System.Web.Routing;

namespace System.Web.Mvc {
    public static class HtmlExtensions {

     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, null, (RouteValueDictionary)null, requestUrl.Scheme, requestUrl.Authority);
      }
     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, object routeValues) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, null, new RouteValueDictionary(routeValues), requestUrl.Scheme, requestUrl.Authority);
      }
     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, RouteValueDictionary routeValues) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, null, routeValues, requestUrl.Scheme, requestUrl.Authority);
      }
     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, string controllerName) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, controllerName, (RouteValueDictionary)null, requestUrl.Scheme, requestUrl.Authority);
      }
     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, string controllerName, object routeValues) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, controllerName, new RouteValueDictionary(routeValues), requestUrl.Scheme, requestUrl.Authority);
      }
     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, string controllerName, RouteValueDictionary routeValues) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, controllerName, routeValues, requestUrl.Scheme, requestUrl.Authority);
      }
     public static string AbsoluteAction(this UrlHelper url, string actionName, string controllerName, object routeValues, string protocol) {
      Uri requestUrl = url.RequestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url;
      return url.Action(actionName, controllerName, new RouteValueDictionary(routeValues), protocol, requestUrl.Authority);
      }

     }
    }

Answer 5

Maybe this (?):

<%= 
  Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority) + 
  Url.Action("Action1", "Controller2", new {param1="bla", param2="blabla" })
%>

Answer 6

Click here for more information, but esentially there is no need for extension methods. It's already baked in, just not in a very intuitive way.

Url.Action("Action", null, null, "http");

Answer 7

<%= Url.Action("About", "Home", null, Request.Url.Scheme) %>
<%= Url.RouteUrl("Default", new { Action = "About" }, Request.Url.Scheme) %>