[Blazor WebAssembly Project Template] Change web app manifest extension to “webmanifest”

[christianliebel]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe the problem.

No response

Describe the solution you'd like

The official file extension for the Web Application Manifest is webmanifest. This helps servers to deliver the file with the official media type (application/manifest+json). I propose changing the manifest's file extension in the Blazor WebAssembly project templates from "json" to "webmanifest".

Sources:

• Web Application Manifest spec
• IANA media type registration

Additional context

No response

[javiercn]

@christianliebel thanks for contacting us.

I imagine you might be referring to the manifest used by PWAs?

That would need to be handled at the static files level. @Tratcher do you have any thoughts? Would we be open to a PR that updates our mappings to support this? Do browsers follow the spec appropriately? What concrete, practical benefit does this change bring?

[ghost]

Hi @christianliebel. We have added the "Needs: Author Feedback" label to this issue, which indicates that we have an open question for you before we can take further action. This issue will be closed automatically in 7 days if we do not hear back from you by then - please feel free to re-open it if you come back to this issue after that time.

[christianliebel]

I imagine you might be referring to the manifest used by PWAs?

@javiercn Correct, I'm referring to the Web Application Manifest used by PWAs. My PR #43756 would change the file extension of the manifest created by the project template to "webmanifest", its official extension.

That would need to be handled at the static files level. @Tratcher do you have any thoughts? Would we be open to a PR that updates our mappings to support this? Do browsers follow the spec appropriately? What concrete, practical benefit does this change bring?

Yes, the static files mapping could be adjusted to include the official media type application/manifest+json for files with the "webmanifest" extension. For browsers, the actual file extension and media type shouldn't even matter (w3c/manifest#689 (comment)). So there's also no actual benefit, but it's the official file extension and media type registered at IANA.

[christianliebel]

@javiercn @Tratcher The media type is already included in the media type map: https://github.com/dotnet/aspnetcore/blob/main/src/Middleware/StaticFiles/src/FileExtensionContentTypeProvider.cs#L347

So changing the file extension is sufficient. 😇

[javiercn]

@christianliebel thanks for the clarification.

I am fine if the change is benign. Which seems to be.

[javiercn]

@christianliebel we talked about this and we will take your PR for .NET 8.0 once it passes on the CI.

Thanks for the contribution