Question

The ASP.NET MVC controller action methods are primarily used for handling ‘business’ operations but it can be used for lots more.

I thought it would be fun to see what creative, useful things people have created actions for that may be practical or useful for others.

Here’s my contribution :

Javascript file concatenator – to reduce number of http requests:

    [OutputCache(Duration = 5 * 60, VaryByParam='')]  // DONT USE 'None' here *     public ContentResult RenderJavascript(){          StringBuilder js = new StringBuilder();         StringWriter sw = new StringWriter(js);          // load all my javascript files         js.AppendLine(File.ReadAllText(Request.MapPath('~/Scripts/jquery.hoverIntent.minified.js')));         js.AppendLine(File.ReadAllText(Request.MapPath('~/Scripts/jquery.corner.js')));         js.AppendLine(File.ReadAllText(Request.MapPath('~/Scripts/rollingrazor.js')));          return new ContentResult()         {             Content = js.ToString(),             ContentType = 'application/x-javascript'         };     } 

Map a route to it :

  // javascript   routes.MapRoute(      'js-route',      'dynamic/js',      new { controller = 'Application', action = 'RenderJavascript' }   ); 

Refer to it from your master page :

    <script type='text/javascript' src='/dynamic/js'></script> 

Be warned I’ve set a cache for the output, so if you’re changing your JS and refreshing the page you might want to disable the cache!

I jsut need to come back and figure out how to gzip it.

* You shouldn’t use VaryByParam=’None’ because that causes the Vary header to be send, which causes the browser to go back and check for a new version. If you really have to change your js content then your users are just goin to have to wait 5 minutes for it!

Answer 1

Does a HTTP 301 Redirect count as clever?

public class PermanentRedirectResult : ActionResult {     public string Url { get; set; }      public PermanentRedirectResult(string url)     {         if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(url))         {             throw new ArgumentException('url is null or empty', 'url');         }         this.Url = url;     }       public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)     {         if (context == null)         {             throw new ArgumentNullException('context');         }         context.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = 301;         context.HttpContext.Response.RedirectLocation = Url;     } }