In my MVC 3 .NET application, how do I change the URL in the address bar on website startup?

Question

When I start debugging my MVC web application, the URL in my address bar is the following:

http://localhost:#####/

And this calls the Home/Index route. Is there a way to have the Home/Index part included when I start debugging in the address bar like this:

http://localhost:#####/Home/Index

I don't quite understand why the address does not display the Home/Index part in the first place. Can someone clarify this?

Isn't that the default route? That's what it's supposed to do. — Paul Phillips, Jul 11 '12 at 19:29
When I deploy my website, the images for the buttons do not render unless the Home/Index is directly in the address. So I am looking into possible causes. — Jake Stout, Jul 12 '12 at 15:33

H H · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-12T15:43:40.770

2

Just set it up in Project|Properties:

enter image description here

Select Specific page and set it to: Home/Index

But do consider how a real visitor will be coming to your site, and what you want to happen.

edited Jul 12 '12 at 15:43

answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:35

H H

263,252
30
330
514

Your image is broken, though I think I found the property. – Jake Stout Jul 12 '12 at 15:33
Hmm, the Image looks fine here. – H H Jul 12 '12 at 15:42

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:44

I don't quite understand why the address does not display the Home/Index part in the first place. Can someone clarify this?

The reason is that the in the design of MVC, the authors most likely decided that hiding information that wasn't useful would be best.

For example both of these are run the same action on the same controller with the default routes:

http://localhost:xxxx/
http://localhost:xxxx/Home/Index

What is the advantage of the second one? It's longer?

So by default if the route matches or partial matches it's removed from the url.

With the default controllers (with a AboutController), the following urls are also the same:

http://localhost:xxxx/About
http://localhost:xxxx/About/Index

Again, whats the advantage of the second one?

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:34

1

You need to register the route in RegisterRoute method in following way:

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

answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:34

Akash KC

16,057
6
39
59

That already happened (wasn't removed) because the empty URL is working. – H H Jul 11 '12 at 19:39
This is the opposite of what he is asking. – Maess Jul 11 '12 at 19:42

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:31

0

You almost certainly have a default route set up in global.asax.cs.

answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:31

48klocs

6,073
3
27
34

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:09

0

Assign the Start URL (Absolute) or Specific Page (Relative) in the Web Tab of your project properties.

Start Action -> Start URL : http://localhost:#####/Home/Index

edited May 23 '17 at 10:09

Community

1
1

answered Jul 11 '12 at 19:32

SliverNinja - MSFT

31,051
11
110
173

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 12 '12 at 09:11

0

There is no advantage to the second one. The second path is being used as the default path for the first.

answered Jul 12 '12 at 09:11

chris

31
2

In my MVC 3 .NET application, how do I change the URL in the address bar on website startup?

6 Answers6