Action Parameter Naming

Question

Using the default route provided, I'm forced to name my parameters "id". That's fine for a lot of my Controller Actions, but I want to use some better variable naming in certain places. Is there some sort of attribute I can use so that I can have more meaningful variable names in my action signatures?

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

// Action Signature:
public ActionResult ByAlias(string alias)
{
  // Because the route specifies "id" and this action takes an "alias", nothing is bound
}

Levi · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-08 22:40:03Z

50

Use the [Bind] attribute:

public ActionResult ByAlias([Bind(Prefix = "id")] string alias) {
    // your code here
}

answered Jan 8, 2010 at 22:40

Levi

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1 Comment

DMac the Destroyer Over a year ago

That's the best example of using Bind that I've found yet! Is there a way to also make this work on model properties? i.e. instead of the method signature having a string parameter, it has a class as a parameter that has a property that looks like this: [Bind(Prefix = "id")]string Alias {get; set;}? That example doesn't compile... how would I modify it to compile (and also work)?

Chris Shaffer · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-08 20:52:56Z

1

This still works, your query string will just look like "/Controller/ByAlias?alias=something".

answered Jan 8, 2010 at 20:52

Chris Shaffer

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2 Comments

Langdon Over a year ago

I guess you're saying it still works meaning if I had actually used Html.ActionLink to create my link, then it would create a URL as you've described... what if I didn't do that and just hit the URL /Controller/ByAlias/aliashere -- can I somehow bind the string alias parameter to the "id" piece defined in the route?

Don Cheadle Over a year ago

On my MVC version, that did not work. It strictly expected /{id} - could not provide ?alias=val

curtisk · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-08 21:04:50Z

0

You can customize the routes with whatever identifiers you like..

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

Edit: Here's an overview from the ASP.NET site

edited Jan 8, 2010 at 21:04

answered Jan 8, 2010 at 20:58

curtisk

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1 Comment

Langdon Over a year ago

I sure can, but if I still want the original /Home/Index/id to work, I can't very well define /Home/Index/alias right after it and expect it to ever get hit.

Neil T. · Accepted Answer · 2010-01-08 21:41:26Z

0

Just because your route uses the name "id" for the ID variable doesn't mean that you have to use the same name in your controller action methods.

For example, given this controller method...

public Controller MailerController
{
    public ActionResult Details(int mailerID)
    {
        ...
        return View(new { id = mailerID });
    }
}

...and this action method call from the view...

<%= Html.ActionLink("More Info", "Details", new { mailerID = 7 }) %>

...you can use whatever naming convention you wish for the ID parameter in your controller action methods. All you need to do is resolve the new name to the default, whether it's "id", "alias", or whatever.

The above example should resolve to :

<a href="/Mailer/Details/7">More Info</a>

answered Jan 8, 2010 at 21:41

Neil T.

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2 Comments

Langdon Over a year ago

For me (in MVC 1.0) mailerID will always result in null if I hit /Mailer/Details/7. As soon as I change int mailerID to int id (as per the Route) it works fine.

Robert Harvey Over a year ago

using id allows you to generalize your routes. Without this, you would need one route for every naming variation of id.

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