[asp.net-mvc] Why is my CSS bundling not working with a bin deployed MVC4 app?

I have bin deployed an MVC4 application to my hosting provider, based on advice given here and one or two on-the-fly fixes, but the most immediately apparent problem is that the bundling for css doesn't work. When I replace the bundle ref with explicit file refs, my css works again.

I am using a standard MVC4 RTM project template from VS2012. The provider is running IIS 7.5 and ASP.NET 4, and my previous MVC3 version of the same app worked fine. I am guessing I have grabbed a dependency somewhere of too low a version, and this might also contribute to my area based action link problem.

Technical symptoms are:

The line @Styles.Render("~/Content/css") renders as <link href="/Content/css?v=" rel="stylesheet"/>

Omitting runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" also worked for me. Add the following configuration in web.config:

<modules>
  <remove name="BundleModule" />
  <add name="BundleModule" type="System.Web.Optimization.BundleModule" />
</modules>

runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests will impose a performance hit on your website if not used appropriately. Check out this article.

I encountered the same issue with CSS on a live environment. I followed all of the advise here and investigated how the bundling works behind the scene. This lead me to request that the .Net cache was cleared (I didn't have access to the app servers) which caused the bundling to start working on the app servers. However, when accessing the site via a load balancer with a CDN configured, although the bundle identifier was updated in the url, the bundle contained the old CSS. Simply flushing the CDN resolved the issue.

I hope this goes some way to helping some one else who may encounter this

To add useful information to the conversation, I came across 404 errors for my bundles in the deployment (it was fine in the local dev environment).

For the bundle names, I including version numbers like such:

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/jquerymobile.1.4.3").Include(
...
);

On a whim, I removed all the dots and all was working magically again:

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/jquerymobile143").Include(
...
);

Hope that helps someone save some time and frustration.

i had the same problem . i just convert

@Styles.Render("~/Content/css")
and @Scripts.Render("~/bundles/modernizr") to 
    @Styles.Render("/Content/css")
    @Scripts.Render("/bundles/modernizr")

and its worked. just dont forget to convert

   @Scripts.Render("~/bundles/jquery")
    @Scripts.Render("~/bundles/bootstrap")
to 
    @Scripts.Render("/bundles/jquery")
    @Scripts.Render("/bundles/bootstrap")

have nice time

With Visual Studio 2015 I found the problem was caused by referencing the .min version of a javascript file in the BundleConfig when debug=true is set in the web.config.

For example, with jquery specifying the following in BundleConfig:

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/jquery").Include("~/Scripts/jquery-{version}.min.js"));

resulted in the jquery not loading correctly at all when debug=true was set in the web.config.

Referencing the un-minified version:

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/jquery").Include("~/Scripts/jquery-{version}.js"));

corrects the problem.

Setting debug=false also corrects the problem, but of course that is not exactly helpful.

It is also worth noting that while some minified javascript files loaded correctly and others did not. I ended up removing all minified javascript files in favor of VS handling minification for me.

I was facing this problem while deploying the code in Azure websites. it did worked when I deployed build from visualstudio.com and wasn't when I tried to publish the build from visual studio 2013. the main problem was CSS Minification. I totally agree with 1st response to this question. but thought of sharing solution that worked for me, may be it will help you in fixing it.

basically when we deploy through VSO it generates minification files for css, js by kicking in system.web.Optimization, but when we do publish build from VS 2013 we have to take care of the below. bundling-and-minification 1. make sure the folder structure and your bundler naming convention should be different. something like this.

bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/Content/materialize/mcss").Include(
                  "~/Content//materialize/css/materialize.css"));

2. add at the bottom of your bundleconfig definition

public static void RegisterBundles(BundleCollection bundles)
{
  bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/jquery").Include(
             "~/Scripts/jquery-{version}.js"));

   // Code removed for clarity.
   BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = true;
}

3. make sure to add debug false in web.config (when you start local debuging VS2013 will give you a popup saying that you need to make sure to putting it back before deploying into prod. that itself explains much.

<system.web>
  <compilation debug="true" />
  <!-- Lines removed for clarity. -->
</system.web>

css names must be consistent.

Names of jqueryUI css are not "jquery.ui.XXX" in Contents/themes/base folder .

so it should be :

wrong:

            bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/Content/themes/base/css").Include(
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.core.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.resizable.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.selectable.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.accordion.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.autocomplete.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.button.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.dialog.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.slider.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.tabs.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.datepicker.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.progressbar.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/jquery.ui.theme.css"));

correct :

            bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/Bundles/themes/base/css").Include(
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/core.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/resizable.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/selectable.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/accordion.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/autocomplete.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/button.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/dialog.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/slider.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/tabs.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/datepicker.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/progressbar.css",
                                    "~/Content/themes/base/theme.css"));

I tried in MVC5 and worked successfully.

Just for history:

Check that all mentioned less/css files in bundle have Build Action = "Content".

There is no error if some files from bundle missing on destination server.

As an addendum to the existing answers, none of which worked for me I found my solution HERE:

https://bundletransformer.codeplex.com/discussions/429707

The solution was to

1. right click the .less files in visual studio
2. Select properties
3. Mark the Build Action as Content
4. Redeploy

I did NOT need to remove extensionless handlers (as can be found in other solutions on the internet)

I did NOT have to add the <add name="BundleModule" type="System.Web.Optimization.BundleModule" /> web.config setting.

Hope this helps!

I had this issue while adding some packages from nuget and forgot to do an update

So first do an update of all packages installed in the project

Update-Package

In the Global.asax.cs add the following

BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = true;

I know this is an old issue, but people may still face this.

The following checks if the BundleModule exists in web.config and loaded, and sets EnableOptimizations based on its existance.

This way wether it is available or not, the css/js references will work fine. In other words:

• If BundleModule is available, the bundeling/optimization will be enabled.

• If BundleModule is not available, the bundeling/optimization will be disabled and automatically the full references will be used instead.

Code:

public static void RegisterBundles(BundleCollection bundles)
{
   // bundeling code here
   // ...
   // bundeling code here

   bool bundelingModuleIsAvailable = false;
   try { 
       bundelingModuleIsAvailable = HttpContext.Current.ApplicationInstance.Modules.AllKeys.Contains("BundleModule"); 
   }
   catch { }
   if (!bundelingModuleIsAvailable)
       System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("WARNING : optimization bundle is not added to Web.config!");

   BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = bundelingModuleIsAvailable && !Debug_CheckIsRunning();
   //Debug_CheckIsRunning is optional, incase you want to disable optimization when debugging yourself
   BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = true;
}

private bool Debug_CheckIsRunning()
{//Check if debug is running
    string moduleName = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetCurrentProcess().MainModule.ModuleName;
    return (moduleName.Contains("iisexpress.exe") || moduleName.Contains(".vshost") || moduleName.Contains("vstest.executionengine") || moduleName.Contains("WebDev.WebServer"));
    }

Just to clarify a few things, System.Web.Optimization (aka Bundling/Minification) will work against 4.0. It is not depending on anything in 4.5, so there should be no problems there.

If script bundling is working, and its only an issue with CSS, perhaps the issue is with relative URLs?

I'd first look at the rendered page and see if you are getting references to the CSS bundle, i.e. something like:

<link href="/app/Content/css?v=oI5uNwN5NWmYrn8EXEybCI" rel="stylesheet"/>

If you are, then bundling is working, but something inside your CSS bundle is messed up. Usually this is due to relative URLs inside your CSS bundle being incorrect, i.e. if your images live under ~/Content, but you name your bundle ~/bundles/css, the browser will incorrectly look for images under ~/bundles.

Also, the default behavior is to disable bundling and minification when debug=true. So, if you do want optimizations enabled even when debug=true, you will need to force:

BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = true

Updated: With the new info that v="", that means the bundle was empty, you should verify that you are adding files to the bundle correctly, and that it found them. How are you including files to the bundle?

UPDATE 11/4/2013:

The reason why this happens is because you have .js or .css at the end of your bundle name which causes ASP.NET to not run the request through MVC and the BundleModule.

The recommended way to fix this for better performance is to remove the .js or .css from your bundle name.

So /bundle/myscripts.js becomes /bundle/myscripts

Alternatively you can modify your web.config in the system.webServer section to run these requests through the BundleModule (which was my original answer)

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true">
  <remove name="BundleModule" />
  <add name="BundleModule" type="System.Web.Optimization.BundleModule" />
</modules>

Edit: I also noticed that if the name ends with 'css' (without the dot), that is a problem as well. I had to change my bundle name from 'DataTablesCSS' to 'DataTablesStyles' to fix my issue.

You need to add this code in your shared View

 @*@Scripts.Render("~/bundles/plugins")*@
    <script src="/Content/plugins/jQuery/jQuery-2.1.4.min.js"></script>
    <!-- jQuery UI 1.11.4 -->
    <script src="https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.11.4/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Kendo JS -->
    <script src="/Content/kendo/js/kendo.all.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="/Content/kendo/js/kendo.web.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
    <script src="/Content/kendo/js/kendo.aspnetmvc.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Bootstrap 3.3.5 -->
    <script src="/Content/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Morris.js charts -->
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/raphael/2.1.0/raphael-min.js"></script>
    <script src="/Content/plugins/morris/morris.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Sparkline -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/sparkline/jquery.sparkline.min.js"></script>
    <!-- jvectormap -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/jvectormap/jquery-jvectormap-1.2.2.min.js"></script>
    <script src="/Content/plugins/jvectormap/jquery-jvectormap-world-mill-en.js"></script>
    <!-- jQuery Knob Chart -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/knob/jquery.knob.js"></script>
    <!-- daterangepicker -->
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/moment.js/2.10.2/moment.min.js"></script>
    <script src="/Content/plugins/daterangepicker/daterangepicker.js"></script>
    <!-- datepicker -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/datepicker/bootstrap-datepicker.js"></script>
    <!-- Bootstrap WYSIHTML5 -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/bootstrap-wysihtml5/bootstrap3-wysihtml5.all.min.js"></script>
    <!-- Slimscroll -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/slimScroll/jquery.slimscroll.min.js"></script>
    <!-- FastClick -->
    <script src="/Content/plugins/fastclick/fastclick.min.js"></script>
    <!-- AdminLTE App -->
    <script src="/Content/dist/js/app.min.js"></script>
    <!-- AdminLTE for demo purposes -->
    <script src="/Content/dist/js/demo.js"></script>
    <!-- Common -->
    <script src="/Scripts/common/common.js"></script>
    <!-- Render Sections -->
    @RenderSection("scripts", required: false)
    @RenderSection("HeaderSection", required: false)

One of my css files had an '_' character in the file name which caused issues.

Renamed your_style.css to yourstyle.css

Another thing to consider is the references cannot have the same name. For example, if you have jQuery UI in the libraries directory, and bundle its JavaScript file like so:

bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/libraries").Include("~/libraries/jquery-ui/jqyery-ui.js"));

and then try to bundle its CSS files like so:

bundles.Add(new StyleBundle("~/libraries").Include("~/libraries/jquery-ui/jqyery-ui.css"));
...

it will fail. They have to have unique names. So do something like ScriptBundle("~/libraries/js")... and ScriptBundle("~/libraries/css")... or whatever.

try this:

    @System.Web.Optimization.Styles.Render("~/Content/css")
    @System.Web.Optimization.Scripts.Render("~/bundles/modernizr")

It worked to me. I'm still learning, and I've not figured it out yet why it is happening

This solved my issue. I have added these lines in _layout.cshtml

@*@Scripts.Render("~/bundles/plugins")*@
<script src="/Content/plugins/jQuery/jQuery-2.1.4.min.js"></script>
<!-- jQuery UI 1.11.4 -->
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/ui/1.11.4/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
<!-- Kendo JS -->
<script src="/Content/kendo/js/kendo.all.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/Content/kendo/js/kendo.web.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="/Content/kendo/js/kendo.aspnetmvc.min.js"></script>
<!-- Bootstrap 3.3.5 -->
<script src="/Content/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
<!-- Morris.js charts -->
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/raphael/2.1.0/raphael-min.js"></script>
<script src="/Content/plugins/morris/morris.min.js"></script>
<!-- Sparkline -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/sparkline/jquery.sparkline.min.js"></script>
<!-- jvectormap -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/jvectormap/jquery-jvectormap-1.2.2.min.js"></script>
<script src="/Content/plugins/jvectormap/jquery-jvectormap-world-mill-en.js"></script>
<!-- jQuery Knob Chart -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/knob/jquery.knob.js"></script>
<!-- daterangepicker -->
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/moment.js/2.10.2/moment.min.js"></script>
<script src="/Content/plugins/daterangepicker/daterangepicker.js"></script>
<!-- datepicker -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/datepicker/bootstrap-datepicker.js"></script>
<!-- Bootstrap WYSIHTML5 -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/bootstrap-wysihtml5/bootstrap3-wysihtml5.all.min.js"></script>
<!-- Slimscroll -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/slimScroll/jquery.slimscroll.min.js"></script>
<!-- FastClick -->
<script src="/Content/plugins/fastclick/fastclick.min.js"></script>
<!-- AdminLTE App -->
<script src="/Content/dist/js/app.min.js"></script>
<!-- AdminLTE for demo purposes -->
<script src="/Content/dist/js/demo.js"></script>
<!-- Common -->
<script src="/Scripts/common/common.js"></script>
<!-- Render Sections -->

I had the same problem and it turned out to be a stupid mistake, the css files were not included in the project so they weren't published, make sure you view all files in the solution and add them to the project.