Question

I have a javascript file that I am including to a ASP.NET MVC view dynamically. This script sets some javascript variables whose values I would like to get from and HTML helper.

The following sets the js variables equal to the string containing the ‘<%’. How should this be formatted so that the server tags are evaluated when this file is included?
Thanks!

 var testPortal = ns.TestPortal;

testPortal.context = {};
testPortal.context.currentUserId = "<%= Html.GetCurrentUserId() %>";
testPortal.context.currentHwid = "<%=Model.Hwid %>"; 
testPortal.context.currentApplicationId = "<%= Html.GetCurrentApplicationId(Model.ProductName) %>";

Update

I am attempting to implement the solution provided to me by Darin below. The new action is working (tested it directly by typing url). However the when I try to create the script tag with a contentPlaceHolder on my view the action is never called. The script tag is never added to the view.

Can someone tell me why this might be??

    <asp:Content ID="Content3" ContentPlaceHolderID="DynamicIncludes" runat="server">
    <script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Action("Index","Context", new{applicationName = Model.ProductName, hwid = Model.Hwid}) %>">
    alert("helloo");
</script>   
    </asp:Content>

Why is the above script not being added?

Answer 1

You cannot use server side includes such as <% %> inside static .js files and that’s because they are not processed by ASP.NET. What you could do instead is to define a controller action or a custom Http handler which will set the response Content-Type HTTP Header to text/javascript which could serve dynamic content. For example:

For example:

public ActionResult MyDynamicJs()
{
    return View();
}

and inside MyDynamicJs.aspx you could use server side tags:

<%@ Page Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage" %>
<% Response.ContentType = "text/javascript"; %>
var testPortal = ns.TestPortal;
testPortal.context = {};
testPortal.context.currentUserId = "<%= Html.GetCurrentUserId() %>";
testPortal.context.currentHwid = "<%=Model.Hwid %>"; 
testPortal.context.currentApplicationId = "<%= Html.GetCurrentApplicationId(Model.ProductName) %>";

Now all that’s left is to include this controller action somwhere:

<script type="text/javascript" src="<%= Url.Action("MyDynamicJs", "SomeController") %>"></script>