MVC Routing optional string parameter and ugly urls

Question

I am using mvc 5.2.3 on 4.5.1 and want these urls

/Nike/Shoes
/Nike/Shoes/Running
/Nike/Shirts/2002342345
/Nike/Shoes/Running/98765432234

My controller has:

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{subcategory}/{page:int?}", Name="ProductIndex")]
public ActionResult Index(string brand, string category, int? page, string subcategory = "")

and gives /Nike/Shoes/Running but no /Nike/Shoes but /Products?brand=Nike&category=Shoes

When I add

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{page:int?}")]
public ActionResult Index(string brand, string category, int? page)

/Nike/Shoes/ works, but I also have /Nike/Shoes/?subcategory=Running

and my details method:

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{subcategory}/{productid:int:min(9000)}", Name="ProductDetails")]
public ActionResult Details(int productid)

gives:

The current request is ambiguous between the following action methods: System.Web.Mvc.ActionResult Index(System.String, System.String, System.Nullable`1[System.Int32], System.String) on type shopmvc.Controllers.ProductsController System.Web.Mvc.ActionResult Index(shopmvc.ViewModels.ProductsViewModel) on type shopmvc.Controllers.ProductsController System.Web.Mvc.ActionResult Details(Int32) on type shopmvc.Controllers.ProductsController

So there is something wrong with my product link and category/subcategory routes. or with the way I try to reach it:

<a href="@Url.RouteUrl("ProductDetails", new { brand = item.Brand, category = item.Category, subcategory = item.SubCategory, productid = item.ID })">test</a>
<a href="@Url.Action("Details", "Products", new { brand = item.Brand, category = item.Category, subcategory = item.SubCategory, productid = item.ID })">
<a href="@Url.Action("Index", "Products", new { brand = c.Brand, category = c.Category, subcategory = c.SubCategory })">@c.DisplayName</a>

Tom Chantler · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-20 11:37:58Z

2

Have you tried ordering the routes in Global.asax from most specific to most generic? Your application doesn't know which order to check the routes, so something like brand/category/subcategory/nnnnn could either be page nnnnn or product nnnnn.

You need to check this route first:

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{subcategory}/{productid:int:min(9000)}", Name="ProductDetails")]
public ActionResult Details(int productid)

Then this one:

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{subcategory}/{page:int?}", Name="ProductIndex")]
public ActionResult Index(string brand, string category, int? page, string subcategory = "")

Alternatively, you could modify the route so that the page route is something like this:

`brand/category/subcategory/p-n`

e.g. /Nike/Shoes/Running/p-2

EDIT: What happens if you do this? Any number less than 9000 would be interpreted as a page numbr, although it might be confusing to the user!

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{subcategory}/{page:int?:max:8999}", Name="ProductIndex")]
public ActionResult Index(string brand, string category, int? page, string subcategory = "")

edited May 20, 2015 at 11:37

answered May 20, 2015 at 10:56

Tom Chantler

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4 Comments

JP Hellemons Over a year ago

I prefer attribute routing over global.asax, I can use routeorder in attributerouting too. blogs.msdn.com/b/webdev/archive/2013/10/17/…

JP Hellemons Over a year ago

setting the optional page parameter to max 8999 works for the detail page, but that breaks the category urls (with and without subcategory) because it is no longer an optional int.

Tom Chantler Over a year ago

Can you make it optional and still set a max? {page:int?:max:8999} I think you have chosen routes which might be ambiguous. You'd be better off changing the route, perhaps so the page number has p-nnnn or something.

JP Hellemons Over a year ago

urls like /Nike/Shoes/Running/1 work then, and /Nike/Shoes/1 with the second method in the controller. And both optional and a max is not valid:

The inline constraint resolver of type 'DefaultInlineConstraintResolver' was unable to resolve the following inline constraint: 'int?'

Razieltje · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-20 10:57:29Z

1

How about getting the top generic level, and determining the rest from there?

[HttpGet]
[Route("{brand}/{category}/{*subdivision}", Name="ProductIndex")]
public ActionResult Index(string brand, string category, string subdivision)

Then determining if the split of your subdivision contains a deeper path, or a productID and calling the correct methods based on that choice

answered May 20, 2015 at 10:57

Razieltje

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4 Comments

JP Hellemons Over a year ago

my subcategory is an optional parameter, but does not seem to work. what does the asteriks do in the url template *subcategory?

Razieltje Over a year ago

This prevents the template from further parsing the rest of the URL (briefly explained) more can be found link

JP Hellemons Over a year ago

So you suggest to use msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/… and then manually parse the string in your single httpget method. if it ends with an int larger then 10000 redirectaction to detail and split on / for categories etc. I do not know if this is the best approach. though thanks for your suggestion. perhaps other users can vouch for this approach?

Razieltje Over a year ago

that would be the proposal. Although this might seem more work, I think the surplus control of actions could prove valuable. If better options exist, I'm looking forward to them as well :)

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