Question

I have a URL in a Django based web app that looks similar to this:

/market/prices/2011-05-01/min/stocks/msft/dell/appl/

The application is being rewritten in ASP.NET MVC 3. I need to maintain the URL.

The crux of the problem is that I to support the multiple stock ticker symbols separated by forward slashes.

I want a custom route that looks like this:

routes.MapRoute(
    "Stocks",
    "{queryDate}/{minOrMax}/stocks/{listOfStocksSeparatedByForwardSlash}",
    new { controller = "Market", action = "Prices" }
);

The controller would look something like:

public ActionResult Prices(string queryDate, string minOrMax, ICollection<string> listOfStocksSeparatedByForwardSlash) {
    var model = repository.List(queryDate, minOrMax, listOfStocksSeparatedByForwardSlash);
    return View(model );
}

My current solution is as follows:

routes.MapRoute(
    "Stocks",
    "{queryDate}/{minOrMax}/stocks/{*listOfStocksSeparatedByForwardSlash}",
    new { controller = "Market", action = "Prices" }
);

public ActionResult Prices(string queryDate, string minOrMax, string listOfStocksSeparatedByForwardSlash) {
    var list = listOfStocksSeparatedByForwardSlash.Split('/').ToList();
    var model = repository.List(queryDate, minOrMax, list);
    return View(model );
}

Although this works, I’m interested to know if there is a better way to do this?

Answer 1

Okay, this is an option, although I think your approach is easier.

You can provide a RouteHandler attached to a route, like so:

routes.MapRoute(
    name: "Test",
    url: "Test/{someDate}/{*tickerSymbols}",
    defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Test" }).RouteHandler = new SlashSeparatedTrailingParametersRouteHandler("tickerSymbols", "tickers");

with the route handler being

public class SlashSeparatedTrailingParametersRouteHandler : IRouteHandler
{
    private readonly string catchallParameterName;
    private readonly string actionTargetParameter;

    public SlashSeparatedTrailingParametersRouteHandler(string catchallParameterName, string actionTargetParameter)
    {
        this.catchallParameterName = catchallParameterName;
        this.actionTargetParameter = actionTargetParameter;
    }

    public IHttpHandler GetHttpHandler(RequestContext requestContext)
    {
        if (requestContext == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException("requestContext");
        }

        IRouteHandler handler = new MvcRouteHandler();
        var vals = requestContext.RouteData.Values;
        vals[this.actionTargetParameter] = vals[this.catchallParameterName].ToString().Split('/');
        return handler.GetHttpHandler(requestContext);
    }
}

If this is your controller action:

[HttpGet]
public ActionResult Test(DateTime someDate, string[] tickers)
{
    if (tickers == null)
    {
        throw new ArgumentNullException("tickers");
    }

    return Content(string.Format("{0} and {1}", someDate, tickers.Length.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)));
}

and this your post:

http://localhost/Test/12-06-2012/Foo/Bar

then your output is:

12/6/2012 12:00:00 AM and 2

On the elegance this this improves the parameter on the action method at the expense of having to write your own route handler.