Why does MediaManager.GetMediaUrl() return internal "/sitecore/shell/-/media" URL instead of "~/media" URL?

Question

I'm programatically inserting some JPGs into the Media Library with the MediaCreator and then putting URLs to those images in a Rich Text field another item (page). When I call MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(item) I get a URL that begins with /sitecore/shell/-/media and the anonymous user can't see these images.

How do I get a URL to a media item that is visible to the anonymous user?

Here's my code

var mediaCreator = new MediaCreator();
var options = new MediaCreatorOptions
{
      Versioned = false,
      IncludeExtensionInItemName = false,
      Destination = _settings.NewsMediaRootItem.Paths.ContentPath + "/" + fileName,
      OverwriteExisting = true                        
};

using (new SecurityDisabler())
{
    var item = mediaCreator.CreateFromStream(ms, fileName, options);
    var uri = MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(item);
    return uri;
}

Answer 1

From what I remember, if you add an image from media library into RTE field, Sitecore uses the following format:

<img src="-/media/5EA5C007FFFF4688A0B7E6F58B79D2E8.ashx" />

With your media item id instead of 5EA5C007FFFF4688A0B7E6F58B79D2E8.

Try to use the same format from your code instead of generating the url using MediaManager.

Then the url will be transformed into a user friendly link when the field is generated on your site.

---

EDIT

You can use MediaUrlOptions.GetShellOptions() to generate url in this format:

using (new Sitecore.SecurityModel.SecurityDisabler())
{
    var item = mediaCreator.CreateFromStream(ms, fileName, options);
    var uri = Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(item, Sitecore.Resources.Media.MediaUrlOptions.GetShellOptions());
    return uri;
}

Answer 2

This happens because your context site is "shell" .

You need to switch to website site using :

   using (new SecurityDisabler())
   {
      var item = mediaCreator.CreateFromStream(ms, fileName, options);
      using (new SiteContextSwitcher(Factory.GetSite("website")))
        {
         var uri = MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(item);
        }
       return uri;
    }