ASP.NET - path to use to reference .CSS and .JS

Question

I have a Master Page in the root of my project. I have Content Pages throughout my project and in subfolders referencing this Master Page. What is the correct way to reference my .CSS and .JS files if I always want them to be relative to the root?

Here is how I'm doing it now:

link href="/common/css/global.css"
script src="/common/javascript/global.js"

But that breaks the link. I tried without the leading "/" but that didn't work on my pages in the subfolders.

Answer 1

I would use something like

Server.ResolveClientUrl("~/common/css/global.css")

This will get a proper url for you at all times.

Example

Per the comment this would be full usage.

<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" 
    href='<%= Server.ResolveClientUrl("~/common/css/global.css") %>' />

Answer 2

You can make the <link> tag to run at server so Asp.Net will resolve the url for you like this:

<link href="~/common/css/global.css" runat="server" />

(Notice the '~')
I don't know if it can be appied to the <script> tag though, you sould try...

EDIT: I discovered recently on a project that you can (and should) use a ScriptManager to hold your scripts (you can only have 1 per page). You can put one in your MasterPage and reference all your scripts. Inside your content page, you then add a ScriptManagerProxy that will 'reference' the scripts on the master page and you can even add other scripts for that content page only.