MVC3 links SEO - how to make calls from one controller to other controller

Question

I have one problem, I am not sure how to explain but I will try. I followed this: http://www.deliveron.com/blog/post/SEO-Friendly-Routes-with-ASPnet-MVC.aspx And I was able to achieve what they describe. But if I have a page where i wish to call action from other controller, it doesn't work. It doens't show the link in this way: "this-is-my-link" in the URL.

I don't know what do I do wrong?

in Global.asax

public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
    {
        routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

        routes.MapRoute(
            "Default", // Route name
            "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
            new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
        );

        routes.MapRoute(
            "Default2",
            "{controller}/{action}/{id}/{pageTitle}",
            new
                {
                    controller = "Home",
                    action = "Index",
                    id = UrlParameter.Optional,
                    pageTitle = UrlParameter.Optional
                }
            );

    }

Views/Help/FAQ

@Html.ActionLink(FaqStrings.ContactUs, "ContactUs", "Home", new { id = 1, pageTitle = "link text".ToSeoUrl() })

It says that it can't resolve the ContactUs. Instead of the actions from HomeController, it sees the actions of the HelpController.

In HomeController

[AllowAnonymous]
    public ActionResult ContactUs()
    {
        var model = new ViewModelContactUs
                        {
                            Resultmessage = string.Empty,
                            Youremail = string.Empty,
                            Yourmessage = string.Empty,
                            Yourname = string.Empty
                        };
        return View(model);
    }

    [AllowAnonymous]
    [HttpPost]
    public ActionResult ContactUs(ViewModelContactUs model)
    {
        Log.DebugFormat("HomeController-ContactUs()");

........

        var model2 = new ViewModelContactUs
                         {
                             ......
                         };

        ModelState.Clear();
        return View(model2);
    }

I don't understand your problem. What code doesn't produce the desired result? — user1477388, Oct 25 '12 at 19:02

Tommy · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-26T17:06:49.380

Try moving your controller into the RouteValues dictionary part of your @Html.ActionLink

@Html.ActionLink(FaqStrings.ContactUs, "ContactUs", new {controller="Home", id = 1, pageTitle = "link text".ToSeoUrl() })

EDIT

To address the logic, it has to do with the available signatures of the Html.ActionLink method. Here is the MSDN for information but...

The method signature that you were using was Html.ActionLink("Link Text", "Action", "Contoller", RouteValues, HtmlAttributes). Since you were not passing HtmlAttributes, it was matching up wrong and generating the wrong link. By either moving the controller into the RouteValuesDictionary or passing a , null at the end of your call should solve it. But, I personally don't like throwing nulls around unless I need to, so I typically just define the controller in the RouteValuesDictionary.

If you were not passing any RouteValues, then a call to Html.ActionLink("Link Text", Action, Controller) works with no issues.

Hope that clears it up a little! :)

That was correct, thank you very much! What is the logic? I think I get it but I am not entirely sure. — Diana Dimitrova, Oct 26 '12 at 15:18
I updated the answer a little to try and explain what is going on (to the best of my ability anyways). — Tommy, Oct 26 '12 at 17:06

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 25 '12 at 21:21

The underlying problem is that:

@Html.ActionLink(FaqStrings.ContactUs, 
                 "ContactUs", 
                 "Home", 
                 new { id = 1, pageTitle = "link text".ToSeoUrl() })

Will produce an Anchor which when clicked will produce an HTTP GET, however you're method is requiring HTTP POST:

[AllowAnonymous]
[HttpPost]  // <-----POST
public ActionResult ContactUs(ViewModelContactUs model)

MVC3 links SEO - how to make calls from one controller to other controller

2 Answers2