title: How can I read the contents of a file in ASP.Net MVC?
body: <p>I have an ASP.Net MVC controller action that needs to return a json result (it's actually jsonp, but that's not important) that contains the contents of another html file. So basically, I want to do this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[JsonpFilter]
  public JsonResult GetHeader()
  {
      var html = System.IO.File.ReadAllText("/htm/external/header.htm");
  
      return Json(new { html = html }, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>However, it's not finding the right file. It's looking in the C directory (Could not find a part of the path 'C:\htm\external\header.htm'), when I want it to look at the server's root (plus /htm/external, of course).</p>
  
  <p>How can I read this file in? It's externally available, so I guess I could make a separate web request for it, but it seems like I should be able to target it directly.</p>