ASP.NET Web API Routing in ApiController

Question

I've been struggling with my routing for some time now and after a few days of trying to Google the solution without luck, I'm hoping someone may be able to shine some light on my problem.

I have the following routes in my WebApiConfig:

        config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "AccountStuffId",
            routeTemplate: "api/Account/{action}/{Id}",
            defaults: new { controller = "Account", Id = RouteParameter.Optional }
        );

        config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "AccountStuffAlias",
            routeTemplate: "api/Account/{action}/{Alias}",
            defaults: new { controller = "Account", Alias = RouteParameter.Optional }
        );

and the following controller methods:

    [HttpGet]
    public Account GetAccountById(string Id)
    {
        return null;
    }

    [HttpGet]
    public Account GetAccountByAlias(string alias)
    {
        return null;
    }

If I call: /API/Account/GetAccountById/stuff then it properly calls GetAccountById.

But if I call /API/Account/GetAccountByAlias/stuff then nothing happens.

Clearly order matters here because if I switch my declarations of my routes in my WebApiConfig, then /API/Account/GetAccountByAlias/stuff properly calls GetAccountByAlias, and /API/Account/GetAccountById/stuff does nothing.

The two [HttpGet] decorations are part of what I found on Google, but they don't seem to resolve the issue.

Any thoughts? Am I doing anything obviously wrong?

Edit:

When the route fails, the page displays the following:

<Error>
    <Message>
        No HTTP resource was found that matches the request URI 'http://localhost:6221/API/Account/GetAccountByAlias/stuff'.
    </Message>
    <MessageDetail>
        No action was found on the controller 'Account' that matches the request.
    </MessageDetail>
</Error>

Are you sure nothing happens or do you actually get a 404? – Tallmaris Aug 02 '13 at 19:04 — Tallmaris, Aug 02 '13 at 19:04
Sorry, I've included the details of the failure. – Mike Aug 02 '13 at 19:31 — Mike, Aug 02 '13 at 19:31

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 02 '13 at 19:42

6

You should be able to just have the following route:

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
        name: "AccountStuffId",
        routeTemplate: "api/Account/{action}/{Id}",
        defaults: new { controller = "Account", Id = RouteParameter.Optional }
    );

and do the following for your actions:

[HttpGet]
public Account GetAccountById(string Id)
{
    return null;
}

[HttpGet]
public Account GetAccountByAlias([FromUri(Name="id")]string alias)
{
    return null;
}

answered Aug 02 '13 at 19:42

Kiran

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That's excellent! I had no idea `[FromUri(Name="id")]` existed. Would you be able to elaborate on it a little? Or even provide a link where I could read up? – Mike Aug 02 '13 at 20:16
The attributes, `FromUri` and `FromBody`, tell Web API 2 where to parse out the parameters. In the case of `FromUri`, it will parse out the query string and get the respective named values. – Cameron Tinker Aug 03 '14 at 04:38

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 02 '13 at 19:31

Is there a reason you need to be declaring two different routes?

Look at the guide at: http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/web-api-routing-and-actions/routing-in-aspnet-web-api

They have one default route and going by the example all you need in your config is

routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "API Default",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);

ASP.NET Web API Routing in ApiController

2 Answers2