Asp.net MVC Routing always to Root with parameters

Question

Now, the question. I have an eCommerce website and I have a controller called Store with an action Index. When someone types www.mysite.com/sony, I want to route to controller Store and action Index with parameter brand=Sony. If someone type www.mysite.com/sony-tv, I want to route to controller Store and action Index but with the parameters brand=sony and department=tv.

I obtained that by creating a route for every situation storing in a database, and building the routes dynamically when the app starts. Its works fine in a few cases. First, i need to index the routes. I need to map the route sony-tv before the sony, otherwise the /sony-tv maps to /sony equally.

When i enter at site's home (www.mysite.com) and click at Url.Action("Index","Store", new {brand=Sony}) it route me to www.mysite.com/sony. NICE!. Now, inside the SONY brand i'll click at Url.Action("Index","Store", new {brand=sony, department=tv}) and I can see all TV's from Sony.

Everything is running fine until here. In the database, I have 1 route to /sony where I say i have a parameter named brand with value Sony and a constrained named brand with value Sony. I have another route saying the same way to sony-tv. The pattern sony-tv has a parameter named brand with value sony and a parameter named deparment with value tv, and the sames constraints of parameters.

In my head, its means that the route for www.mysite.com/Sony is Store/Index/brand=sony and the www.mysite.com/sony-tv is Store/Index/brand=sony&department=tv. With the constraints, i understand that if department is not TV or if the parameter department does not exists, it will send to www.mysite.com/sony

When i'm at www.mysite.com/sony-tv, if I pass my mouse over the other brands, the link build to Url.Action("Index","Store", new {brand=Apple}) is www.mysite.com/Apple-Tv I have a route to Apple-TV equal to Sony. The URL exists but i'm not passing the TV parameter. I passed on this link (brands links) only the brand. I want to move the user to brand's root he's moved to brands + department.

I don't know, its looks like the department variable is passing through again and I don't know how to cancel that.

I'm completely wrong? What i'm doing is valid? I can do that? Where is my mistake?

At cshtml file:

@Html.ActionLink(febrand.Name.ToUpper(), "Index", new { controller = "Store", brand= febrand.FriendlyName, department = string.Empty })

at final html file (show source code from google chrome):

<a href="/sony?department=tv">SONY</a>

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

2

Fisrt, that seems like a lot of work for something that you could do with two custom routes. Additionally, as your route table gets larger (eg. adding more brands and/or departments), each request to your site will take longer to fulfill due to having to scan a larger list of routes.

So, lets attempt to fix your route table. Place these two routes above your default route in the global.asax:

routes.MapRoute(
    "Department",
     "{brand}-{department}",
     new { controller = "Store", action = "Index" };

routes.MapRoute(
     "Brand",
      "{brand}",
      new { controller = "Store", action = "Index" });

As for your issue, when you create your action link, the routing engine is holding onto the department route value from the view you are currently on. To make it forget that parameter when generating a link, send a null across for the department variable when you do not need it.

@Html.ActionLink("Apple", "Index", new{controller="Store", brand="Apple", department = string.empty});

EDIT

I feel you may be in a weird edge case with your routing (and there are numerous examples of this problem all across SO, such as here and here). The solution, other than the one I provided, is to switch to Html.RouteLink instead of Html.ActionLink.

RouteLink Signature that we are going to use

Html.RouteLink(string linkText, string routeName, object RouteValues)

Example Brand link for your code

@Html.RouteLink(febrand.Name.ToUpper(), "Brand", new { controller = "Store", action = "Index", brand= febrand.FriendlyName})

edited May 23 '17 at 12:28

Community

1
1

answered Apr 12 '13 at 14:20

Tommy

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thanks for your attention. the department=null instruction returns me an compiler (vs2012) error: cannot assign to anonymous type property. Its right? I'm doing anything else wrong? – Leandro De Mello Fagundes Apr 12 '13 at 14:43
try assigning department = string.empty – Tommy Apr 12 '13 at 14:45
another error, now at the maprout instruction: The route URL cannot start with a '/' or '~' character and it cannot contain a '?' character i cant use /{brand} :( – Leandro De Mello Fagundes Apr 12 '13 at 14:49
and that's what I get for hurrying an answer. Remove the / from the beginnings of the route – Tommy Apr 12 '13 at 14:50
Take easy man, why i'll post here if i dont need the help? Its my first time working with friendly url, so i dont know the "rules" yet. Sorry again. – Leandro De Mello Fagundes Apr 12 '13 at 15:01
@LeandroDeMelloFagundes - ??? that was against me man, I rushed typing out that global.asax and made a mistake. Thus why I said...thats what I get for rushing an answer (and not proofing / ensuring it was valid syntax) – Tommy Apr 12 '13 at 15:05
lol, sorry :( for a second its look's like i was a retarded for not trying to remove the / by myself :(. Your solution works right like mine. When i'm at sony-tv url and pass the mouse over Apple, its show /apple?department=tv even if i put category=string.empty :( – Leandro De Mello Fagundes Apr 12 '13 at 15:09
should it be category= string.empty or department = string.empty – Tommy Apr 12 '13 at 15:11
sorry, i've tried department=string.empty. dont know why i typped category on last comment :( – Leandro De Mello Fagundes Apr 12 '13 at 15:14
I've tried to input as source code, but i guess i failed. look if you can understand – Leandro De Mello Fagundes Apr 12 '13 at 15:23

Asp.net MVC Routing always to Root with parameters

1 Answers1