Getting Absolute URL fron 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

Answer 1

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/

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