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Share constants between C# and Javascript in MVC Razor

Asked 2011-06-02T16:00:30.163
38

I'd like to use string constants on both sides, in C# on server and in Javascript on client. I encapsulate my constants in C# class

namespace MyModel
{
        public static class Constants
        {
            public const string T_URL = "url";
            public const string T_TEXT = "text";
     . . .
        }
}

I found a way to use these constants in Javascript using Razor syntax, but it looks weird to me:

@using MyModel
        <script type="text/javascript">

            var T_URL = '@Constants.T_URL';  
            var T_TEXT = '@Constants.T_TEXT';
     . . .
            var selValue = $('select#idTagType').val();
            if (selValue == T_TEXT) { ...

Is there any more "elegant" way of sharing constants between C# and Javascript? (Or at least more automatic, so I do not have to make changes in two files)

javascript asp.net-mvc-3 razor
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1 Answer

2

Rather then storing your constant data in a C# class, store it in a static config/constants file.

// Constants.json
{
    "T_URL": "url",
    "T_TEXT": "text"
}

// Constants.cs

// load the json from a file stream into a constants object

// Constants.js

window.Constants = $.getJSON(url);

Simply store it as some file format (json, xml, cvs, whatever) then load it up from both the client & server.

This means your either creating a class in the C# on the fly at runtime using black magic reflection or just have a hashtable / dictionary containing your constants under keys.

jQuery.getJSON, JsonReaderWriterFactor

answered 2011-06-02T16:06:49.310

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