How to change the way the Url is formatted on a submit

Question

I have a search box in a Razor template:

    @{
        using (Html.BeginForm("Detail", "Book", FormMethod.Get))
        {
        @Html.TextBox("Id")
        <input type="submit" value="Search" />
        }
    }

When I submit a search it goes to a url like:

~/Book/Detail?Id=1234

However I want it to format the url like so, just because I think it looks cleaner:

~/Book/Detail/1234

Which works perfectly fine because the controller method signature looks like this:

    // GET: /Book/Detail/id
    public ActionResult Detail(string id)

Model with TextBoxFor

I've tried a Html.TextBoxFor:

    @model WebApplication.Models.SearchModel
    @{
        using (Html.BeginForm("Detail", "Book", FormMethod.Get))
        {
        @Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Id)
        <input type="submit" value="Search" />
        }
    }

Same result.

Could you please tell me, what is the purpose of generating this url? Are you want to pass those value or want to goto that route? — Pandiyan Cool, Aug 07 '13 at 09:18
@PandiyanCool Both urls work the same and invoke the controller action `Detail`. I just prefer the look of the second one. — weston, Aug 07 '13 at 09:19

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

1

I think you want to take a look at the @Html.BeginRouteForm method, like in this question.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

Community

1
1

answered Aug 07 '13 at 09:29

Stephen

2,027
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Thanks, I'm giving it a go, but it's got a load of overloads and not much help on MSDN. – weston Aug 07 '13 at 12:47
meh... isn't really an option on second look. Sorry about that. Trouble is that for the 'route-like' syntax, the id needs to be passed into the BeginForm method. See the question and answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13997629/how-to-get-razor-form-to-use-route – Stephen Aug 07 '13 at 13:56
No problem, thanks for the help, I've found a [solution](http://stackoverflow.com/a/18105353/360211) – weston Aug 07 '13 at 14:11

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

1

You use a GET request. This means that all parameters will appear in the url box. I can't check now, but I suppose you could use these options:

The IIS url rewrite - http://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite
Url rewrite through a web.config - http://www.hanselman.com/blog/RedirectingASPNETLegacyURLsToExtensionlessWithTheIISRewriteModule.aspx

And a batch of stupid methods:

You can change your request to POST and then modificate the Url by the JS - Modify the URL without reloading the page
You can redirect the request

Also, did you try to add a personal routing for the search url?

edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

Community

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answered Aug 07 '13 at 11:54

Mark Twain

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OK, well I'll bare those in mind, but I'm sure there is a simple way. – weston Aug 07 '13 at 13:01
As for the personal routing - no I didn't try that, I don't know how or why? – weston Aug 07 '13 at 13:02
How: in the `Global.asax` in the method `RegisterRoutes`. Why: I suppose that you shouldn't do this, because your Controller/Action/Parameter are same as default routing. I just didn't notice it at first time. – Mark Twain Aug 07 '13 at 13:42
Yeah both urls work, so the mapping is there, I think now that it boils down to the html `` submit will always put parameters at end of url after a `?`. So maybe the other ideas you put forward are nessasary. – weston Aug 07 '13 at 13:47
1

Thanks for your suggestions, I found a simple solution, see [answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/18105353/360211). – weston Aug 07 '13 at 13:55

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 07 '13 at 09:32

0

Try using a model for the form submit and use @Html.TextBoxFor.

answered Aug 07 '13 at 09:32

Miller

1,096
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Thanks, but it didn't help. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, see edit to question. – weston Aug 07 '13 at 09:52
try using FormMethod.Post instead of Get – Miller Aug 07 '13 at 10:56
No, that won't help, that will not put anything in the url. – weston Aug 07 '13 at 11:05
That's just it, there is no Post method. Only Get. – weston Aug 07 '13 at 11:43

weston · Answer 4 · 2013-08-07T14:02:56.617

The answer was to add a new search action then redirect to the detail. This is nice because I can choose to do more when searching, such as returning a different view if the query has multiple matches.

    //
    // GET: /Book/Search?query=
    public ActionResult Search(string query)
    {
        return RedirectToAction("Detail", new { id = query });
    }

    //
    // GET: /Book/Detail/id
    public ActionResult Detail(string id)

Razor:

@{
    using (Html.BeginForm("Search", "Book", FormMethod.Get))
    {
        @Html.TextBox("query")
        <input type="submit" value="Search" />
    }
}

How to change the way the Url is formatted on a submit

4 Answers4

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