Can an ASP.NET MVC controller return an Image?

Question

Can I create a Controller that simply returns an image asset?

I would like to route this logic through a controller, whenever a URL such as the following is requeste

Answer 1

Solution 1: To render an image in a view from an image URL

You can create your own extension method:

public static MvcHtmlString Image(this HtmlHelper helper,string imageUrl)
{
   string tag = "";
   tag = string.Format(tag,imageUrl);
   return MvcHtmlString.Create(tag);
}

Then use it like:

@Html.Image(@Model.ImagePath);

Solution 2: To render image from database

Create a controller method that returns image data like below

public sealed class ImageController : Controller
{
  public ActionResult View(string id)
  {
    var image = _images.LoadImage(id); //Pull image from the database.
    if (image == null) 
      return HttpNotFound();
    return File(image.Data, image.Mime);
  }
}

And use it in a view like:

@ { Html.RenderAction("View","Image",new {id=@Model.ImageId})}

To use an image rendered from this actionresult in any HTML, use