WebApi2 attribute routing URL format

Question

I would like to route with

api/prefix/{controller}/{id}/{param}

as opposed to

api/prefix?Controller={controller}&Id={id}&Param={param}

In other words, I would prefer a URL without the name/value parameters.

The controller is defined like this:

/// <summary>
/// Employee API
/// </summary>
[System.Web.Mvc.RoutePrefix("api/employee")]
public class EmployeeController : ApiController
{
    ///<summary>
    /// Returns a collection of employees from a supplied CSV of EmployeeIds
    /// </summary>
    /// <paramref name="EmployeeIds">CSV of EmployeeIds. Pass "ALL" to include all employees. Defaults to "ALL".</paramref>
    /// <paramref name="PageSize">Number of rows to return. Defaults to all rows</paramref>
    /// <paramref name="PageNumber">Number of the page to return. Defaults to Page 0</paramref>
    /// <returns>IEnumerable<Employee></returns>
    [System.Web.Mvc.Route("id/{EmployeeIDs:alpha?}/{PageSize:int?}/PageNum:int?}")]
    public IHttpActionResult getEmployeesByIds(string EmployeeIds = "ALL",int PageSize = 0,int PageNumber = 0)
    {
        EmployeeDb db = new EmployeeDb();
        IEnumerable<Employee> e = db.getEmployeesById(EmployeeIds, PageSize, PageNumber);
        return Ok(e);
    }
}

How can I control the way the format of the URL?

Unclear what you're asking. Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. — Nkosi
– Nkosi, Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 15:05
Why? controller/action/ is much cleaner than controller=mycontroller&action=myAction..... — Ric
– Ric, Commented Mar 1, 2017 at 15:20
You should use attribute routing from web api learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/web-api/overview/… — Marcus Höglund
– Marcus Höglund, Commented Mar 8, 2017 at 6:29

Akos Nagy · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-01 15:22:18Z

1

You are using the System.Web.Mvc.RoutePrefix and the System.Web.Mvc.Route attributes, but you inherit from ApiController, so this is a Web API Controller, as opposed to an MVC Controller. Can you try switching over to System.Web.Http.RoutePrefix and System.Web.Http.Route?

answered Mar 1, 2017 at 15:22

Akos Nagy

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2 Comments

Metaphor Over a year ago

Good catch, thanks! I made this change and am now getting an error message that a route template can't start with a "/" or "~". None of my templates start with anything non-alpha, so trying to track it down.

Akos Nagy Over a year ago

You have typos in the URL. The parameter names must match exactly the templateparts in the URL, and also there is a missing { before PageNum. Try this [Route("id/{EmployeeIds:alpha?}/{PageSize:int?}/{PageNumber:int?}")]

Ajay B L · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-08 06:08:45Z

1

The System.Web.Http one is for Web API; the System.Web.Mvc one is for previous MVC versions. MVC is web applications, Web API is HTTP services.

RoutePrefix should be inherited from System.Web.Http.

As ApiController is from System.Web.Http, it is not able to resolve your route.

This ms-doc has good info about attribute routing.

answered Mar 8, 2017 at 6:08

Ajay B L

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