How to serve static content in Nancy

Question

I'm having trouble serving up static content such as JavaScript in Nancy.

For example using the self hosting sample I have added a test.js to the Views folder and added a

<script type="text/javascript" src="test.js"></script>

tag to the staticview.html page. If I view this page in the browser the JavaScript is executed correctly.

However when I run the sample the JavaScript is not executed. If I view the page in FireBug I see that I'm getting a 404 error for test.js.

I've tried adding

Get["{file}"] = p =>
{
    string path = string.Format("Views/{0}", p.file);
    return Response.AsJs(path);
};

and when I set a break point and execute Response.AsJs(path) in the immediate window I get a StatusCode of NotFound

I've also tried adding a StaticContentConvention such as

protected override void ConfigureConventions(NancyConventions conventions)
{
    base.ConfigureConventions(conventions);
    conventions.StaticContentsConventions.Add(
        StaticContentConventionBuilder.AddDirectory("/", "Views"));
    conventions.StaticContentsConventions.Add(
        StaticContentConventionBuilder.AddDirectory("Views", "Views"));
}

What am I doing wrong?

Solution 1

You can configure static content using NancyConventions. Using the code from the following bootstrapper you can place all of your static contents (css/js/html/etc) inside a folder named "static" at the root of your application.

namespace Application
{
    public class ApplicationBootstrapper : DefaultNancyBootstrapper
    {
        protected override void ConfigureConventions(NancyConventions nancyConventions)
        {
            nancyConventions.StaticContentsConventions.Add(StaticContentConventionBuilder.AddDirectory("Static", @"Static"));
            base.ConfigureConventions(nancyConventions);
        }
    }
}

After this is done you can access static content such as scripts

<script type="text/javascript" src="/static/test.js"></script>

or css

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/static/styles.css">

Solution 2

You do not have to configure any conventions if you do not have special reasons.

Nancy ... is shipped with a default convention that will look for files in the content path of your application.

_{From NancyFx | Managing static content}

I achieved the same by just doing this:

1. Add a folder in the project called "content", add the static contents there (.js, .xap, .ico, ...)
2. For each content file, set its properties: Build Action: Embedded Resources; Copy to Output Directory: Copy if Newer.
3. Change the paths to match the new location, for example:

<script type="text/javascript" src="content/test.js"></script>

Solution 3

Adding just for completeness: If you happen to be running Nancy in self host and running via visual studio debugging, and you find you're getting 404's for all static content requests, you must make sure that the build action is set to "Copy Always" for all your static content files!

If you don't do this then these files will not be copied to your output directory and therefore will not exist, hence 404.

Solution 4

First time every sharing a solution online. It took me 4 days to find a quick hack that would work as I run through tutorials and learn nancy. Here is the easy solution:

Make sure you have in your project.json file the right setup:

"buildOptions": {
"emitEntryPoint": true,

"copyToOutput": [ "Views/Car/*" ]
},

Next, go to your CarModule.cs:

Get("/status", _ => View["Car"]);

when you compile the code for the first time your view will work. However, after you edit the html and try to compile again you need this little hack:

Change:

Get("/status", _ => View["Car"]);

to:

Get("/status", _ => View["Car.html"]);

We trick the compiler to think it needs to attach the HTML to the assembly.

I hope this helps noobs like me that can't make much working sense out of the above comments straight from the NacyFx documentation.

Solution 5

For a self hosted Nancy app, I think you need to mark the files as embedded resources - you do for views. For views you then also need to do this in your bootstrapper:

protected override NancyInternalConfiguration InternalConfiguration
{
  get
  {
    return NancyInternalConfiguration.WithOverrides(
      x => x.ViewLocationProvider = typeof (ResourceViewLocationProvider));
  }
}

You probably have to do something similar.

Alternatively you should (from memory) use .AsJsFile instead of .AsJs.

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