Combine web server controls web and script resources (axd files)

Question

I know there are lots of similar questions like this in the web, but I haven't got to one working solution after searching for these last 2 days. Some threads are outdated, others solutions don't work, others are too complicated to manage, so... Yes, another question about resources.axd files in asp.net projects.

I'm starting to build a set of server controls and embedding some resources. After building my controls and dragging them into pages, each individual resource is requested by the browser in the form of an .axd script. I understand the part where the ScriptManager manages these scripts and they're not ready to use, for instance, in Bundles in some sort of .Include("*.axd").

• I tried some of the combine/minify/compress/gzip/icecreamOnTop packages out there but couldn't manage none of them to work.

• I tried the StriptManager CompositeScript approach and the ScriptResources.axd are indeed combined, the response is successful (code 200), but in the end the scripts don't work. Example: I included the jQuery lib in that composite script and then tried to use it in the page - didn't work. I must say I didn't reference () the composite script anywhere because I didn't understand how to do it. If I set the path, then a 404 was returned (found the 1024 byte limit threads, etc...) and all the requests to the WebResources.axd would still remain.

• I would prefer not to write an HttpHandler myself.

• Also tried to download the AjaxToolkit and tried the ToolkitScriptManager which combines scripts, but that added ~4seconds to my page load. No, thanks.

My question is: what is the current approach regarding this matter in .net 4.5?

I will have lots of resources and would like to combine them. All js and css files in the final website project are bundled, but how to 'bundle' the axd files?

Here's a little example which will make the following requests:

Click here to view image

I know I can set the AjaxFrameworkMode to Disabled and will only have the 2 first WebResources.axd requests in this example, but what about when I have 10 css files embedded in my controls?

Any working solution would be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Answer 1

I managed to implement something that suits my case. More of a work around than a proper combining solution, but works and that's good enough for now.

• All my controls extend a base class which has a property called ProcessResources. By default this property is set to true. That means that JS and CSS resources will be registered and each control has everything to work as standalone (axd resources will be generated). When set to false, no resource is registered and no axd files are generated.

• The base class also has a static method that receives a destination path as a parameter and copies all the JS and CSS resources to that folder (if they don't exist or have been modified). This method returns a collection of all the needed resources for the control to work.

This way, on Application_Start, I can do something like:

myJsBundle.Inlude(ServerControlA.GetResources("~/ExternalResources", RESOURCES.JAVASCRIPT));

Then just need to set the ProcessResources flag to false (each control or web.config). All resources are now bundled and no axd files are generated.