I'm getting a "Does not implement IController" error on images and robots.txt in MVC2

Question

I'm getting a strange error on my webserver for seemingly every file but the .aspx files.

Here is an example. Just replace '/robots.txt' with any .jpg name or .gif or whatever and you'll get the idea:

The controller for path '/robots.txt' was not found or does not implement IController.

I'm sure it's something to do with how I've setup routing but I'm not sure what exactly I need to do about it.

Also, this is a mixed MVC and WebForms site, if that makes a difference.

What if you are using an IControllerFactory, what then @DanielA.WhiteZ? — reZach, Aug 24 '14 at 05:33
Sounds like a problem with the handler for static files. Just saying. — , Jul 14 '16 at 12:53

Daniel A. White · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-24T00:07:01.783

77

You can ignore robots.txt and all the aspx pages in your routing.

routes.IgnoreRoute("{*allaspx}", new {allaspx=@".*\.aspx(/.*)?"});
routes.IgnoreRoute("{*robotstxt}", new {robotstxt=@"(.*/)?robots.txt(/.*)?"});

You might want to ignore the favicon too.

routes.IgnoreRoute("{*favicon}", new {favicon=@"(.*/)?favicon.ico(/.*)?"});

You can adjust the regular expression to exclude paths.

Haacked from the source.

edited Mar 24 '10 at 00:07

answered Jan 21 '10 at 14:22

Daniel A. White

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I like this solution, it sucks I'm going to have to add one for each file type though. .jpg, .png, .gif, .swf, .pdf, etc etc. – Ben Lesh Jan 21 '10 at 14:30
@blesh - are you using a custom `IControllerFactory`? – Daniel A. White Jan 21 '10 at 14:34
No... but looking into it, I think I may start. Why do you ask? – Ben Lesh Jan 21 '10 at 14:36
@Daniel A White - I started using a custom IControllerFactory as part of my implementation for Unity IoC and this error cropped up (it didn't happen prior). Why did this happen? – Tri Q Tran May 25 '11 at 00:54
hmm none of this explains why this error happens in the first place. For some reason I get it only for one image.. I used to get it for .map files and now just for clear.png. why not for any of the other 100 images?! this is driving me nuts.. – Sonic Soul Mar 21 '16 at 17:36

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 25 '12 at 21:54

18

The ignore route given above didn't work for me but I found a similar one that did:

routes.IgnoreRoute("{*staticfile}", new { staticfile = @".*\.(css|js|gif|jpg)(/.*)?" });

answered Jan 25 '12 at 21:54

The Coder

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score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 01 '11 at 21:33

6

This error could also happen if inside a view in your area, you use the Html.Action helper. This helper will always use the area as a prepend, unless you specifically tell it not to. E.g.,

@Html.Action("Main", "Navigation", new { area = string.Empty })

answered Jul 01 '11 at 21:33

Daniel

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Your answer solved my another problem related to @Html.Action – irfandar Nov 29 '16 at 14:53

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 21 '10 at 14:27

I found another solution too... While I don't think I'll use it, it's worth showing here in the answers:

The following should (in theory) ignore looking for controllers for anything with a '.' in it.

routes.MapRoute(
    "Default",                                              // Route name
    "{controller}/{action}/{id}",                           // URL with parameters
    new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" },  // Parameter defaults
    new { controller = @"[^\.]*" }                          // Parameter contraints.
);

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 21 '10 at 14:48

2

Do you still have:

routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

... in your Global.asax.cs?

MVC puts it there by default, and it's supposed to handle this.

If you do, then the problem may be how you're mixing MVC and WebForms.

answered Jan 21 '10 at 14:48

Craig Stuntz

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And make sure it is at the top! – Martin Jan 21 '10 at 15:02
I have it... but it's below `routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.aspx/{*pathInfo}");` is that an issue? – Ben Lesh Jan 21 '10 at 15:14
Yes, I am using MVC and webforms. I have still facing issue. I have many research but not found any solution. Can you help me. – Vishal Kiri Nov 10 '15 at 05:10

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 14 '13 at 09:26

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I encountered this error when I request resources that did not exist.

Specifically, I was requesting a custom IE css file:

(These are condition comments, interpreted by IE)

However, the actual resource existed on ~/Content/ie/ie7.css.

So, without any modifications to the routing, the error was solved by using the correct url of the resource.

answered Jun 14 '13 at 09:26

R. Schreurs

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Out of curiosity, why bother with the condition comments if you can detect browser version in a server side @block and just not render the extra styles at all? – mikeschuld Nov 02 '15 at 18:27
Well, actually I never bothered. The css and most of the mark-up were the work of a team mate. I suppose its just a result of a front-end designer's wish to keep everything under control. Triggered by your remark, I just read on [MSDN - About conditional comments](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537512%28v=vs.85%29.aspx) that support has been dropped in IE10 standards mode, so, we'll have to look into this. – R. Schreurs Nov 02 '15 at 20:35

I'm getting a "Does not implement IController" error on images and robots.txt in MVC2

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