asp.net mvc script bundle adding all the files

Question

When you add a script bundle and have something like:

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/base.scripts").Include(
                            "~/Scripts/jquery-1*"));

It loads up the raw Jquery version and the minified version. Those files are both in the Scripts folder so I assume the asterisk is doing exactly what you tell it.

Is there a way to have only the minified version render when in debug=false mode and the raw version in debug=true?

Or is it down to actually specifying the exactly files you want instead of using the asterisk?

Regards, Jacques

Answer 1

This should be happening automatically via the BundleCollection's FileExtensionReplacementList which should be selecting the .min version of the file when debug=false. The default templates when you create a new project should be using this functionality as well.

Answer 2

Although this question is now over a year old, in case someone stumbles across it in need of help on the same problem, Bundling introduces the {version} wildcard which uses a regular expression to look for a typical version number pattern (such as 1.9.1) so that when you update a package manually or via NuGet you don't have to go and change your Bundles configuration.

It will also be smart enough to select from files named .min.js and .js - using the former in release configurations and the latter in debug, exactly what the OP is after.

For ASP.NET MVC 4, this means with a debug configuration, the file jquery-1.7.1.js will be added to the bundle. In a release configuration, jquery-1.7.1.min.js will be added. The bundling framework follows several common conventions such as:

• Selecting “.min” file for release when “FileX.min.js” and “FileX.js” exist.
• Selecting the non “.min” version for debug.
• Ignoring “-vsdoc” files (such as jquery-1.7.1-vsdoc.js), which are used only by IntelliSense.

See Bundling and Minification and {version} wildcard in MVC4 Bundle

Word of warning though, if you have both jQuery-1.9.1.js and jQuery-1.10.2.js in the directory (for example) then both will be matched and added to the bundle - something that obviously is not desirable.

Note also that the minified version of the file must be named file.min.js, not file-min.js or min.file.js for this to work. The YepNope library for example is named yepnope.1.5.4-min.js when you get it via NuGet which means both this and the unminified version are added to the bundle.