Media URLs are never absolute URLs in preview mode

Question

On my local standalone instance, I have a case where I am expecting an absolute URL for a media library item. However, in preview mode, the returned URL is never absolute:

MediaUrlBuilderOptions options = new MediaUrlBuilderOptions()
{
    AlwaysIncludeServerUrl = true,
    AbsolutePath = true
};

string url = HashingUtils.ProtectAssetUrl(MediaManager.GetMediaUrl(mediaItem, options));

// preview mode returns /-/media/images/my-image.jpg

// normal mode returns https://mysite.sc/-/media/images/my-image.jpg

My site config is:

<site name="website" set:targetHostName="mysite.sc" set:hostName="mysite.sc" />

This happens whether or not I have hostName set.

Is this expected behavior?

Answer 1

Yes link resolver behaves in this way, in preview mode If the Rendering.SiteResolving setting is true, and the dynamic link manager can determine a logical Web site for the linked item, and that site is not the context site, and the targetHostName attribute of that site has a value, then link manager uses the targetHostName attribute. If the targetHostName attribute has no value, and the hostName attribute has a value, then the link manager uses the hostName attribute.

Here is the url https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/SdnArchive/Articles/Administration/Configuring%20Multiple%20Sites/Adding%20New%20Site/site%20Attribute%20Properties/targetHostName.html for your reference