Action Filter for Compression

Introduction

This tip will help to create an action filter to compress the contents like Json, partial view, etc.

Using the Code

Step 1: Create a class which will be derived from ActionFilterAttribute.

Step 2: Overwrite the method OnActionExecuting.

 public class CompressAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
    {
        public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
        {
            HttpRequestBase request = filterContext.HttpContext.Request;
 
            string Encodingtype = request.Headers["Accept-Encoding"];
 
            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(Encodingtype)) return;
 
            Encodingtype = Encodingtype.ToUpperInvariant();
 
            HttpResponseBase responseMessage = filterContext.HttpContext.Response;
 
            if (Encodingtype.Contains("GZIP"))
            {
                responseMessage.AppendHeader("Content-encoding", "gzip");
                responseMessage.Filter = new GZipStream(responseMessage.Filter, CompressionMode.Compress);
            }
            else if (Encodingtype.Contains("DEFLATE"))
            {
                responseMessage.AppendHeader("Content-encoding", "deflate");
                responseMessage.Filter = new DeflateStream(responseMessage.Filter, CompressionMode.Compress);
            }
        }
    }  

Step 3: In this method, check the request header if it contains the gzip or deflate encoding. If yes, then add the response with the compression filter.

Step 4: Use the attribute on top of action of a controller.

  [Compress]
        public ActionResult ShowMeritUsageResults(FormCollection model)
        {
  // test code....
        }  

Points of Interest

Install the fiddler, and see the difference between the size before and after compression. Please find the code here.

History

• 17^th April, 2014: Initial version