asp.net mvc Find Controller By Name With Area

Question

My goal is to find a controller from it's name and area. I have successfully done this if my current httpContext is within the same Area as the to-be-found controller. However, I cannot get my call to the ControllerFactory to take Area into consideration. Here's my code:

public static ControllerBase GetControllerByName(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper, string controllerName)
    {
      IControllerFactory factory = ControllerBuilder.Current.GetControllerFactory();
      IController controller = factory.CreateController(htmlHelper.ViewContext.RequestContext, controllerName);
      if (controller == null)
      {
        throw new InvalidOperationException(String.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, "The IControllerFactory '{0}' did not return a controller for the name '{1}'.", factory.GetType(), controllerName));
      }
      return (ControllerBase)controller;
    }

Since it's taking a RequestContext as a parameter, I've added an route value of "area" to it but with no change. Is there something I can do with the requestContext to some how take area into consideration? Do I need to override the controller factory--and if so, what in particular handles Area distinction?

Update:

Here is an example of a AreaRegistration I have:

public class StoresAreaRegistration : AreaRegistration
  {
    public override string AreaName { get { return "Stores"; } }

    public override void RegisterArea(AreaRegistrationContext context)
    {
      context.MapRoute(
          AreaName,
          AreaName + "/{controller}/{action}/{id}",
          new { area = AreaName, controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
      );
    }
  }

@cheesemacfly, Yes -- htmlHelper.ViewContext.RequestContext.RouteData.DataTokens["area"] = areaName and htmlHelper.ViewContext.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["area"] = areaName; were both tried with no success. — OnResolve
– OnResolve, Commented Jan 30, 2013 at 19:07
Well the route is actually declared in the AreaRegistration.cs file. I've added it to the question. — OnResolve
– OnResolve, Commented Jan 30, 2013 at 19:19
You don't have access to the Request.RequestContext object in your GetControllerByName() function? — cheesemacfly
– cheesemacfly, Commented Jan 30, 2013 at 19:52

Nick Albrecht · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-22 23:03:23Z

11

The Area and Namespaces used to locate a controller are in the RouteData of the RequestContext. ~~They are populatd by default based off of the request you are currently serving up, if you need to change them you have to do so before calling CreateController.~~ You may get an exception when a controller cannot be found so you'll have to account for that as well.

UPDATE: Note, you MUST create a new RequestContext. If you reuse the existing one it will mess with the resolution of actions & views later on down the line in this request.

var tempRequestContext = new RequestContext(Request.RequestContext.HttpContext, new RouteData());
tempRequestContext.RouteData.DataTokens["Area"] = "";
tempRequestContext.RouteData.DataTokens["Namespaces"] = "YourCompany.Controllers";
var controller = ControllerBuilder.Current.GetControllerFactory()
                .CreateController(tempRequestContext, "ControllerName");

if(controller != null)
{
    //TODO: Implement your logic here
}

edited Feb 22, 2013 at 23:03

answered Feb 22, 2013 at 22:43

Nick Albrecht

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4 Comments

mitomed Over a year ago

Hi, slightly different error and this answer was what I was looking for although I have to changes ["Namespaces"] for ["namespaces"] (haven't used areas, so I don't know if that key requires lower case as well). Thanks

Nick Albrecht Over a year ago

I use a capital in mine and it works fine, I'm not sure why you would have different results with a caps vs lowercase.

Peter Over a year ago

In MVC 5 apparently the Namespaces value expects an IEnumerable<string> instead of just a string. so use : tempRequestContext.RouteData.DataTokens["Namespaces"] = new List<string> { "YourCompany.Controllers" };

Nick Albrecht Over a year ago

It should accept both. If you're only passing in only one namespace, you can just give it the string. You don't have to pass it in wrapped in a list. The type expected by DataTokens["Namespaces"] is of type object.

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