Client has a bunch of domains and and websites. Because They have decided to change company’s name recently I was asked to proceed with chanage of domain names as well. After few weeks of constantly informing visitors about planned changed We decided that it is a good time to abandon old domains and redirect visitors to new ones. In order to “be okay” with google (their page ranks, indexed pages and so on) we make those redirects permanent (301 Moved Permanently as a response status code).

As all of the websites are hosted on IIS 7 I have decided to use URL Rewrite Module for the job. First of all – make sure You have Url rewrite module installed on Your server machine. Secondly, You need to update web.config file to something like the one that (assuming old-name):

  <system.webServer>
        ......
        <rewrite>
            <rules>
                <clear />
                <rule name="rebranding" enabled="false" stopProcessing="true">
                    <match url="(.*)" />
                    <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAll" trackAllCaptures="true">
                        <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="(.*)old-name(.*)" />
                    </conditions>
                    <action type="Redirect" url="http://{C:1}new-name{C:2}/{ToLower:{R:1}}" appendQueryString="true" />
                </rule>
            </rules>
        </rewrite>
  </system.webServer>

You can do that in IIS manager as well.
Some explanation here:

• match url=”(.*)” – matches all request
• trackAllCaptures=”true” – will enable to use captured grups in our redirect url
• (.*)old-name(.*) – matches each HTTP_HOST that has ‘old-name’ within, like: ar.old-name.com or www.old-name.ru
• http://{C:1}new-name{C:2}/{ToLower:{R:1}} – redirected url, R:1 stands for matches from and C:1 and C:2 matches those from conditions, ToLower changes text to lower case letters
• appendQueryString=”true” – will append query string to newly generated url

Have fun

Related posts:

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2. Checkbox has to be ‘checked’ – with unobtrusive jQuery validation and ASP.NET MVC 3
3. Tips for jQuery validation plugin

It happens from time to time I have to get rid of those funky apostrophe in my server/javascript code.

To do such kind of things I was using Microsoft Anti-Cross Site Scripting Library. By simply calling:

public static string JavaSriptEncode(this string text) {
  return Microsoft.Security.Application.AntiXss.JavaScriptEncode(text, false);
}

Unfortunately, It doesn’t work in Medium trust environment – btw, why the hell i get stingy clients.

After some time digging all over internet and trying to write it by myself I accidentally found a thing that I never believed to be there. Well, ladies and gentleman, since .NET 4.0 HttpUtility has a new static function called… JavaScriptStringEncode

public static string JavaSriptEncode(this string text) {
  return HttpUtility.JavaScriptStringEncode(text);
}

Uff…

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2. Client side validation after Ajax Partial View result in ASP.NET MVC 3
3. Validate max file size during upload in asp.net mvc

By default (for IIS) .jad and .cod files are not delivered over IIS. The problem and it’s solution lies within MIME types registered on the server. To fix that someone has to add MIME types with valid extension and type:

1. Go to Internet Information Services Manager  (I usually do that by right clicking on Computer, choosing Manage and expanding Roles/WebServer/IIS, or simply search for IIS in Start -> Search for Programs box
2. Click on Your server name, Switch to Features View if You are in Content View
3. You will find MIME Types icon. Double click it.
   
4. On the Action Pane – usually on the right side, select Add..
5. Fill window with provided information (This registers .jad extension).
   
6. Do the same for .cod files – You may have to delete or edit existing .cod settings as I found those already existing with some image type.
   
7. Restart IIS. (iisreset in command prompt)

You can follow above steps to set up Android Package File (APK). To do that add MIME type like one below:

Hope this will help someone.

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1. Noscript information with a link to google search

Yesterday, I was installing new project on fresh Windows Server 2008 R2.

I ended up with an error: Handler “Elmah” has a bad module “ManagedPipelineHandler” in its module list.

After hour of goggling I couldn’t find a solution that would solve my problem (reinstalling asp.net, changing ISAPI restrictions). Nothing helped. Then I have found out that problem lies in IIS7 configuration part in my web.config.

<system.webServer>
  <modules>
    <add name="ErrorLog" type="Elmah.ErrorLogModule, Elmah"/>
  </modules>
  <handlers>
    <add name="Elmah" path="elmah.axd" verb="POST,GET,HEAD" type="Elmah.ErrorLogPageFactory, Elmah" preCondition="integratedMode"   />
  </handlers>
</system.webServer>

My set up was done based on dotnetslackers article, and I simply copied their pre IIS7 configuration to system.webserver part. The part that I was missing was preCondition=”integratedMode” attribute for a handler.

Hope that helps someone

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1. Manually forcing ELMAH to log exception
2. Redirect to new domain after rebranding with IIS Url Rewrite Module
3. Validate max file size during upload in asp.net mvc

Validation is done as an Attribute (DataAnotations way).

 public class FileAttribute : ValidationAttribute {

        public int MaxContentLength = int.MaxValue;
        public string[] AllowedFileExtensions;
        public string[] AllowedContentTypes;

        public override bool IsValid(object value) {

            var file = value as HttpPostedFileBase;

            //this should be handled by [Required]
            if (file == null)
                return true;

            if (file.ContentLength > MaxContentLength) {
                ErrorMessage = "File is too large, maximum allowed is: {0} KB".FormatWith(MaxContentLength / 1024);
                return false;
            }

            if (AllowedFileExtensions != null) {
                if (!AllowedFileExtensions.Contains(file.FileName.Substring(file.FileName.LastIndexOf('.')))) {
                    ErrorMessage = "Please upload file of type: " + string.Join(", ", AllowedFileExtensions);
                    return false;
                }
            }

            if (AllowedContentTypes != null) {
                if (!AllowedContentTypes.Contains(file.ContentType)) {
                    ErrorMessage = "Please upload file of type: " + string.Join(", ", AllowedContentTypes);
                    return false;
                }
            }

            return true;
        }
    }

And now decorators (within viewmodel).

[Display(Name = "Upload Proof of Address")]
[File(AllowedFileExtensions = new string[] { ".jpg", ".gif", ".tiff", ".png", ".pdf" }, MaxContentLength = 1024 * 1024 * 8, ErrorMessage = "Invalid File")]
public HttpPostedFileBase AddressProof { get; set; }

Hope that helps someone.

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2. Checkbox has to be ‘checked’ – with unobtrusive jQuery validation and ASP.NET MVC 3
3. Javascript Encode on server side – Medium Trust Environment

We are usually asked to provide users with nice looking information that this site is best viewable with JavaScript turned on. Plus there is a need to explain them how to turn JS in their browsers. Smart and yet incredibly simple would be to direct them to google search result for a phrase like ‘How do I enable JavaScript in my browser?’

<noscript>
  <a class="enable-js" href="http://www.google.com/search?q=How+do+I+enable+JavaScript+in+my+browser">
    XXX application requires JavaScript to be enabled in browser
  </a>
</noscript>

This one I use for most of web apps I have made so far. Smart, simple and always accurate.

In fact that would be event nicer to add browser with version …

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Idea was to get users’ attention even more by displaying some floating windows… lovely …

Obvious choice would be jQuery modal dialog… So I made it … Unfortunately it has shown up that some of the flash banners remain ‘over’ the dialog, and some of them don’t. After digging into that I figured out that the reason behind that is one of flash parameters: “wmode” (thanks God this is not another inner flash issue).
From Adome Knowledge base:

wmode – Possible values: window, opaque, transparent. Sets the Window Mode property of the Flash movie for transparency, layering, and positioning in the browser.

• window – movie plays in its own rectangular window on a web page.
• opaque – the movie hides everything on the page behind it.
• transparent – the background of the HTML page shows through all transparent portions of the movie. This option can slow animation performance.

So, to fix that You need to set this parameter to ‘transparent’. Fortunately all flash objects were placed with swfobject scripts. Sample code to fix that issue may look like may look like (video from YouTube):

    $(document).ready(function () {
        // The video to load.
        var videoID = "xxx";
        // Lets Flash from another domain call JavaScript
        var params = { allowScriptAccess: "always", wmode: "transparent" };
        // The element id of the Flash embed
        var atts = { id: "ytPlayer" };
        // All of the magic handled by SWFObject
        swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.youtube.com/v/" + videoID + "&enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=player1",
                       "videoDiv", "420", "258", "8", null, null, params, atts);
    });

Hope this saves some of Your precious time…

Related posts:

1. Silverlight, Flash and HTML5 on job market
2. Short history of Facebook
3. Tips for jQuery validation plugin

Or, simply how to run Nlog on shared hosting (like GoDaddy and others).

NLog for Medium Trusted environment

Happy coding!

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2. Manually forcing ELMAH to log exception

The key to this problem lies in interpretation of jQuery validation ‘required’ rule. I digged a little and find a specific code inside a jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js file:

adapters.add("required", function (options) {
  // jQuery Validate equates "required" with "mandatory" for checkbox elements
  if (options.element.tagName.toUpperCase() !== "INPUT" || options.element.type.toUpperCase() !== "CHECKBOX") {
    setValidationValues(options, "required", true);
  }
});

As You can see rule does not applies to checkboxes. Simple solution to that would be to either change this code (which we really do not want to do) or create a new specific adapter. I do not know why it is like that – i can guess that it might be for a backward compatibility. Anyway, to make that work we will start by creating a custom attribute.

public class BooleanRequired : RequiredAttribute, IClientValidatable {        

        public BooleanRequired() {

        }

        public override bool IsValid(object value) {
            return value != null && (bool)value == true;
        }

        public IEnumerable<ModelClientValidationRule> GetClientValidationRules(ModelMetadata metadata, ControllerContext context) {
            return new ModelClientValidationRule[] { new ModelClientValidationRule() { ValidationType = "brequired", ErrorMessage = this.ErrorMessage } };
        }
    }

As You can see it inherits from common RequiredAttribute. Moreover it implements IClientValidateable. This is to make assure that rule will be propagated to client side (jQuery validation) as well. The key part here is GetClientValidationRules method (adapter) where we define new, custom ValidationType called for the purpose of this post, as a ‘brequired’. To make that work, a specific JavaScript code has to be prepare that adds our custom adapter:

jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.adapters.add("brequired", function (options) {
    //b-required for checkboxes
    if (options.element.tagName.toUpperCase() == "INPUT" && options.element.type.toUpperCase() == "CHECKBOX") {
        //setValidationValues(options, "required", true);
        options.rules["required"] = true;
        if (options.message) {
            options.messages["required"] = options.message;
        }
    }
});

All that is left is to mark properties with newly created BooleanRequired attribute.

[BooleanRequired]
public bool AcceptTermsAndCond { get; set' }

Happy coding!

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2. Client side validation after Ajax Partial View result in ASP.NET MVC 3
3. Validate max file size during upload in asp.net mvc

No related posts.

No surprise so far. Knowledge of Flash is the most demanded nowadays. Although it is clearly visible that it is not growing as fast as it used to. Please, note that measures were taken using absolute  scale. Much more interesting thing happen when we tke a look at this graph in relative scale.

And that is something that makes You think. Comparing to Silverlight and Flash, demand for HTML5 skills has recently exploded.

I know that it far too soon to talk about HTML5.

I know that it will not substitute Flash nowadays, and will definably not replace Silverlight for  companies that run ‘back office’ tools on it.

I know …

But still, one picture is worth a thousand words

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The conversion of a datetime2 data type to a datetime data type resulted in an out-of-range value.
The statement has been terminated.

It always takes few minutes to remember – what was that. Ah… It happens when You do not initialize DateTime properties when adding objects to database. Of course, that don’t have to be Your problem dear reader but as it happened to me for the third time I assume It should be pretty common one.

Seriously, if for the third time You dig for solution of a known to You problem – that means You are getting old buddy.

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2. Manually forcing ELMAH to log exception
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Okay, so ELMAH logs all of our unhanded exceptions… What about the case when you ‘catch’ exception but would still like to log it in ELAM defined medium. To do that, use code sample below:

try {
    throw new ApplicationException("This error has to be logged");
} catch (Exception e) {
    Elmah.ErrorSignal.FromCurrentContext().Raise(e);
}

Such a call is the most proper one and is much safer than calling Elmah.ErrorLog.Default.Log(e).

Happy coding!

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1. Register Your application/web site

First You need to have a Facebook account. Then You visit
http://developers.facebook.com/setup/ to register Your web site. After filling out the form:

and pressing ‘Create application’ button You will receive Application ID and Secret numbers. As You can see from filled form Your web site can stay on localhost – it would work great anyway. You will get Your info in similar form as here:

2. Place login button

Now, You are ready to place Facebook login button on Your web site. I have placed it next to standard login button in LoginUserControl.ascx (Partial View):

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl" %>
<%
    if (Request.IsAuthenticated) {
%>
        Welcome <b><%: Page.User.Identity.Name %></b>!
        [ <%: Html.ActionLink("Log Off", "LogOff", "Account") %> ]
<%
    }
    else {
%>
        <div class="login-with-facebook">
            <fb:login-button ></fb:login-button>
        </div>
        [ <%: Html.ActionLink("Log On", "LogOn", "Account") %> ]
<%
    }

%>

3. Add Facebook namespace

As You can see Facebook uses it’s own html namespace. Due to that I have actually lost some time – as I couldn’t figure out why my log in button does not show up in IE…. You need to add fb namespace to Your site (preferably in Site.master):

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:fb="http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml">

This solves the issue.

4. Add JavaScript code

Now some js code is needed, place it at the bottom of the web site:

<div id='fb-root'></div>
<script>
window.fbAsyncInit = function () {
            FB.init({ appId: '<%= Settings.FacebookApplicationId %>', status: true, cookie: true,
                xfbml: true
            });
            FB.Event.subscribe('auth.sessionChange', function (response) {
                if (response.session) {
                    window.location = '<%= Url.Action("LoginWithFacebook", "account", new { returnUrl = Request.Url }) %>';
                } else {
                    window.location = '<%= Url.Action("logout", "account", new { returnUrl = Request.Url }) %>';
                }
            });
        };
        (function () {
            var e = document.createElement('script');
            e.type = 'text/javascript';
            e.src = document.location.protocol +
          '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js';
            e.async = true;
            document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e);
        } ());
</script>

Make sure You have placed ‘fb-root’ element or You manually added script reference to ‘connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js’ script. Replace settings.facebookapplicationid with the one You received after registering app in facebook (Previous step)
Previusly placed button () is initialized thanks to FB.init function. Event ‘auth.SessionChange’ is handled in such a manner that when user registers it redirects to /account/loginwithfacebook and when user log out it goes to /account/logout. As simple as that.

5.  Server side code

Now we need to handle those actions. I will just describe log in, as log out is self explanatory.

[AcceptVerbs(HttpVerbs.Get)]
        public ActionResult LoginWithFacebook(string returnUrl)
        {
            var cookie = FacebookCookie.GetCookie(Settings.FacebookApplicationId, Settings.FacebookSecretKey);

            if (cookie != null) {

                WebClient client = new WebClient();

                var result = client.DownloadString("https://graph.facebook.com/me?access_token=" + cookie.AccessToken);

                JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();

                var user = js.Deserialize<FacebookUserHelper>(result);

                var contextUser = UserService.CreateUserFromFacebook(user);

                FormsAuth.SetAuthCookie(contextUser.Name, false);

            }

            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(returnUrl))
                return RedirectToHomePage();
            else
                return Redirect(returnUrl);
        }

After a call to LoginWithFacebook is made code checks if there is a specific Facebook cookie and validates it (‘Settings.FacebookApplicationId’ and ‘Settings.FacebookSecretKey’ are the one obtained during registration period).
If everything is okay we call ‘https://graph.facebook.com/me’ passing authentication token received within a cookie to obtain user’s data, like name or email. Service returns Json data so we use JavaScriptSerializer to deserialize it. Next we just set authentication cookie. Validation of a cookie may look like:

         public bool ValidateFacebookCookie(string orgCookieValue, string facebookAppSecret) {
            var args = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(orgCookieValue.Replace("\"", string.Empty));
            var cookieCheck = new StringBuilder();
            foreach (var key in args.AllKeys.Where(k => k != "sig")) {
                cookieCheck.AppendFormat("{0}={1}", key, args[key]);
            }
            cookieCheck.Append(facebookAppSecret);
            var md5Hash = cookieCheck.ToMD5Hash(Encoding.ASCII);
            StringBuilder signature = new StringBuilder();
            for (int i = 0; i < md5Hash.Length; i++) {
                signature.Append(md5Hash[i].ToString("X2"));
            }
            return string.Equals(args["sig"], signature.ToString(), StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);
        }

You can obtain facebok cookie value with:

       public static string GetFacebookCookieValue(string facebookAppId, string facebookAppSecret) {
            string name = string.Format("fbs_{0}", facebookAppId);
            if (!HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies.AllKeys.Contains(name)) {
                return null;
            }
            return HttpContext.Current.Request.Cookies[name].Value;
        }

In case You need a complete code for Facebook cookie validation, You may find it using Googling or write me an email and I will send to anyone. You may check how it works by visiting CyprusQA web site. That is it, happy coding!

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2. Browser and self closed script tag…
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So when we combine multiple path we have to deal with with nesting of Path.Combine:

string rootDir = "/root/app";
string folder1 = "users";
string folder2 = "mike/upload";
string filename = "text.xml";

var path = Path.Combine(rootDir, Path.Combine(folder1, Path.Combine(folder2, filename)));

There are 2 ways to handle this:

1. Use Enumerable.Agregate:

string rootDir = "/root/app";
string folder1 = "users";
string folder2 = "mike/upload";
string filename = "text.xml";

var path2 = new string[] { rootDir, folder1, folder2, filename }.Aggregate(Path.Combine);

2. Or upgrade to .NET 4.0 where there is an overload with Path.Combine(params string[] paths)

Have fun!

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1. Validate max file size during upload in asp.net mvc

I was forced to write small widget in Silverlight, and to be honest I was having hard time debugging it in visual studio – somehow, I couldn’t hit any breakpoints. Well shit happens. After an hours spend on that i’ve decided to change browser to IE thinking – Microsoft products goes well with Microsoft products. I wasn’t sure about that but surprisingly, it worked. After some time of googling I managed to find a solution for firefox:

1. In Firefox address bar type “about:config” and accept warning
2. Change value of the entry “dom.ipc.plugins.enabled.npctrl.dll” to “true”
3. Restart Firefox

It worked just great.

I still haven’t managed to find a proper solution for Chrome browser. I guess until I am ready with this widget Firefox has to be my temporary browser… eh …

Anyone with Chrome fix/workaround?

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3. Browser and self closed script tag…

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js" />

Browsers may behave in really strange way – just for Your curiosity – try to run it common browsers.

It looks like Chrome is less immune to this than IE and Firefox. And it comes with explanation:

XML self-closing tag syntax used on <script>. The tag will be closed by WebKit, but not all browsers do this. Change to <script></script> instead for best cross-browser compatibility.

So – for Your own safety, do not use self closing on script tag.

Thus anyone of You know why not all major browsers just ignore this? I know that it is ‘my’ bug cause according to html specification i shouldn’t selft close it. But we are all humans, making mistakes is in our nature…

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2. Firefox 3.0: 411 Length required with JQuery
3. Client side validation after Ajax Partial View result in ASP.NET MVC 3

Chrome…

It has taken some time. I have tried to follow all the changes made since the first version.

I have decided to give it a try from time to time. Each time new major version was released I promised my self to spend at least few days with Chrome as my default browser.

Till version 3.0 or 4.0 Chrome was far far behind Firefox – lack of extensions made web browsing a little bit annoying. After that, when I was finally able to use gmail/wether/translate extensions i was using it more and more often. But still,each time I had to made some web development I was going back to firefox with it’s unbeatable (till recent) add-on: firebug.

Since latest stable Chrome (6.0) i use it even for web development. I have found firebug making my ajax request unstable, and all the embedded developer tools work like charm. There are still few (but just a few) things that i miss from firebug but in overall i am perfectly happy with all Chrome offers and how it saves CPU and memory (comparing to Firefox).

Related posts:

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2. Browser and self closed script tag…
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Now, as ASP.NET MVC 3 beta was finally released I have decided to give it a try.

The most exciting thing that I have noticed is implementation of an idea of so called Unobtrusive JavaScript. This is for both Ajax helpers and Client Validation. And I have to admit that I just love it.

I wll just copy and paste text from scottgu blog:

Unobtrusive JavaScript and HTML 5: The AJAX and Validation helpers in ASP.NET MVC now both use an unobtrusive JavaScript approach by default. Unobtrusive JavaScript avoid injecting inline JavaScript into HTML, and instead enables cleaner separation of behavior using the new HTML 5 data- convention (which conveniently works on older browsers as well). This makes your HTML smaller and cleaner, and makes it easier to optionally swap out or customize JS libraries.  The Validation helpers in ASP.NET MVC 3 also now use the jQueryValidate plugin by default.

Basically we get all the validation done by loading js function parsing loaded DOM searching for specific parameters based on which validation rules are applied to elements. And all of that without a single js line from ‘our’ – web developers side.

One thing is not obvious though and it certainly needs extra explanation: what happens after part of the page is loaded via Ajax request (common Partial View result). Validation is not turned for those elements although all attributes are correctly marked. I have dig a little and found within JavaScript file ‘jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js’ function: jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.parse(selector). Calling function after new content is loaded solves problem, like in the example below:

$.post("test/updateCustomer", { name: "Mark", surname: "Barker" },
  function(htmlContent){
    $('#container').html(htmlContent);
    jQuery.validator.unobtrusive.parse('#content')
  }
);

Hope it helps someone…

Related posts:

1. Tips for jQuery validation plugin
2. Checkbox has to be ‘checked’ – with unobtrusive jQuery validation and ASP.NET MVC 3
3. Firefox 3.0: 411 Length required with JQuery

Designer: I am going to spend whole weekend on those Views…

Me: Yeah… S*** happens….

Designer: Those ‘Html.ActionLink’ that You use everywhere, how do I put something inside, you know, images, spans, staff like that…

Me: Argh… Hm…..

I suddenly realize that before I leave the office this guy needs an extension method: BeginActionLink like right now!. The similar one that is used for Forms elements (BeginForm). Then I started to code… Have You ever realized that ActionLink has roughly 12 overloads!!!! That would take hours to prepare BeginActionLink for most of them.

When You are blocked, what You do? Me too, I started ‘googling’. Nothing simple and smart enough. Except 200 lines of code with tons of overloads… argh…

But then, completely unexpectedly ….

My moment of genius!

Don’t laugh! For people over … some age … that things do not happen offen!

There are solutions that developers are ashamed of, but they simply do their job:

public static string TrimEndTag(this MvcHtmlString htmlString, string tagName = "a")
        {
            var endTag = new TagBuilder(tagName).ToString(TagRenderMode.EndTag); 

            var tagString = htmlString.ToString();

            var endTagIndex = tagString.LastIndexOf(endTag);

            if(endTagIndex > 0)
                tagString = tagString.Remove(endTagIndex).TrimEnd();

            return tagString;
        }

        public static string ToEndTag(this HtmlHelper html, string tagName)
        {
            return new TagBuilder(tagName).ToString(TagRenderMode.EndTag);
        }

I am simply removing end tag from ActionLink returned string! As simple as that! So all that is left for my buddy to do is to use it like that:

<%= Html.ActionLink(" ", "testAction", "testController", new { id = 4 }, new {}).TrimEndTag() %>

        images, spans, text, whatever...

    <%= Html.ToEndTag("a") %>

Wuala! Ugly, So ugly, but at the same time I am preserving original methods for ActionLinks and I couldn’t figure out better solution….

Related posts:

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