Getting Absolute URL from an ASP.NET MVC Action

Question

This probably is a dummy question but I cannot find a clear indication. I have a POCO class in a MVC3 web application whose only purpose is managing the backup of some files in the server. Typically it creates a backup and returns the filename to the controller, which sends an email with the URL for downloading it. This works fine, but I cannot build the absolute URL to be sent. No matter which function I use, I always get a relative URL, like /Backup/TheFile.zip, rather than e.g. http://www.somesite.com/Backup/TheFile.zip. I tried:

VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/Backup/SomeFile.zip");
HttpRuntime.AppDomainAppVirtualPath + "/Backup/SomeFile.zip";
Url.Content("~/Backup/SomeFile.zip");

but they all return something like /Backup/SomeFile.zip. Any idea?

The answer [here](http://stackoverflow.com/a/1288383/1658297) helped me in a similar scenario. This answer addresses both the http/https and portnumbers. This is very useful as my local development is on http with a port number but the production solution is on https. — Sujeewa, Jul 16 '14 at 19:57

Meligy · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-27T22:40:27.927

You can do it by the following:

var urlBuilder =
    new System.UriBuilder(Request.Url.AbsoluteUri)
        {
            Path = Url.Action("Action", "Controller"),
            Query = null,
        };

Uri uri = urlBuilder.Uri;
string url = urlBuilder.ToString();
// or urlBuilder.Uri.ToString()

Instead of Url.Action() in this sample, you can also use Url.Content(), or any routing method, or really just pass a path.

But if the URL does go to a Controller Action, there is a more compact way:

var contactUsUriString =
    Url.Action("Contact-Us", "About",
               routeValues: null /* specify if needed */,
               protocol: Request.Url.Scheme /* This is the trick */);

The trick here is that once you specify the protocol/scheme when calling any routing method, you get an absolute URL. I recommend this one when possible, but you also have the more generic way in the first example in case you need it.

I have blogged about it in details here:
http://gurustop.net/blog/2012/03/23/writing-absolute-urls-to-other-actions-in-asp-net-mvc/

Extracted from Meligy’s AngularJS & Web Dev Goodies Newsletter

Edited: if your request Uri had a query segment, You might also need to overwrite the Query property on the Uri builder! — Tim Lovell-Smith, Feb 27 '14 at 18:07
Here's a quick summary post with all the options: http://benjii.me/2015/05/get-the-absolute-uri-from-asp-net-mvc-content-or-action/ — Ben Cull, May 20 '15 at 08:23

score 35 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 19 '13 at 18:05

35

From within the controller:

var path = VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute(pathFromPoco);
var url = new Uri(Request.Url, path).AbsoluteUri

edited Apr 19 '13 at 18:05

Max Toro

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answered May 09 '12 at 23:50

Chris

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VirtualPathUtility still returns a relative Uri in MVC4 controller – Maksim Vi. Oct 29 '13 at 23:33
7

And combined with the Uri class, that's all you need. Kind of a pointless comment. – Chris Oct 30 '13 at 05:09
I would first pass your path through the Url.Content() method. This answer will fail for paths that are not absolute (start with '/'). – Neil Monroe May 01 '15 at 19:59

Jeff Tian · Answer 3 · 2015-03-21T08:47:26.953

19

This works for me:

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

public static class UrlExtensions
{
    public static string Content(this UrlHelper urlHelper, string contentPath, bool toAbsolute = false)
    {
        var path = urlHelper.Content(contentPath);
        var url = new Uri(HttpContext.Current.Request.Url, path);

        return toAbsolute ? url.AbsoluteUri : path;
    }
}

Usage in cshtml:

@Url.Content("~/Scripts/flot/jquery.flot.menuBar.js", true)

edited Mar 21 '15 at 08:47

answered Jun 01 '14 at 08:42

Jeff Tian

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This is great. I actually wrote almost exactly what you suggested in your answer, but didn't think of adding it as an override to the Content method to make it even more lean. Thanks! – Neil Monroe May 01 '15 at 19:56
Thanks a lot for wonderful solution. I am using ng-include directive and I've had a lot of problems because of relative paths. Only thing that I've added in your code are '' around url. – FrenkyB Apr 15 '16 at 08:15

score 4 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

4

The built-in helpers in MVC 4 create absolute URLs if either the host or protocol parameters are non-empty. See this answer here with an example extension method for use in views.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:18

Community

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answered Feb 19 '13 at 05:36

Carl G

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 25 '18 at 19:38

1

In ASP.Net Core 2.0 (MVC) this works to create an absolute url to an action.

var url = Url.Action("About", "Home", new { /*Route values here*/ }, Request.Scheme);

answered Mar 25 '18 at 19:38

brady321

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Brian MacKay · Answer 6 · 2015-07-08T20:46:06.170

I wrote a helper class for this, for MVC 5... It's pretty flexible, and is particularly useful if you need this functionality when you aren't inside a controller. You should be able to drop it right into a project and go.

As Meligy pointed out, the key is to include the protocol. Here I have it hard coded as http, so if you want to use SSL that might need to become a bit more flexible.

public class AbsoluteUrlHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Creates an absolute "fully qualified" url from an action, and assumes the current controller.
    /// </summary>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static string GetAbsoluteUrl(string action, object routeValues = null)
    {
        var urlHelper = new UrlHelper(HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext);
        var values = urlHelper.RequestContext.RouteData.Values;
        var controller = values["controller"].ToString();

        return GetAbsoluteUrl(action, controller, urlHelper, routeValues);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Creates an absolute "fully qualified" url from an action and controller.
    /// </summary>
    public static string GetAbsoluteUrl(string action, string controller, object routeValues = null)
    {
        var urlHelper = new UrlHelper(HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext);

        return GetAbsoluteUrl(action, controller, urlHelper, routeValues);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Creates an absolute "fully qualified" url from an action and controller.
    /// </summary>
    public static string GetAbsoluteUrl(string action, string controller, UrlHelper urlHelper, object routeValues = null)
    {
        var uri = urlHelper.Action(action, controller, routeValues, "http");

        return uri;
    }
}

score -5 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 13 '11 at 18:29

-5

You have a few options:

Save the value of HttpContext.Request.Url in a static or member variable, and use that to pass the Fully-qualified path.
Save the app domain in an app setting in the web.config.
Hard-code the value.

answered Sep 13 '11 at 18:29

Keith

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Getting Absolute URL from an ASP.NET MVC Action

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