Question

I have an authenticate function in my company controller

    [ActionName("Authenticate")]
    [HttpGet]
    public bool Authenticate(Company company)
    {
        if (Uow.Companies.AuthenticateCompany(company))            
            return true;                
        return false;
    }

that is called using the following ajax query

$.ajax({ url: "/api/company/Authenticate", type: 'get', data: company })

company is a js object

Company: function (name, phoneNumber, password) {
    this.Name = name;
    this.PhoneNumber = phoneNumber;
    this.password = password;
}

var company = new Company($('#TextBoxCompanyName').val(),'00000000', $('#TextBoxCompanyPassword').val());

and my api route is as follows

    config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
        name: "Action",
        routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}"
    );

When the code runs the web api calls the following function in the company controller

 public Company Get(int id)
    {
        return Uow.Companies.GetById(id);
    }

How do I call a custom get function?

Answer 1

Web.API tries to match the routes in the definition order.

From Web API Routing and Actions/Routing and Action Selection

The framework tries to match the segments in the URI path to the template. Literals in the template must match exactly. A placeholder matches any value, unless you specify constraints. The framework does not match other parts of the URI, such as the host name or the query parameters. The framework selects the first route in the route table that matches the URI.

So the order of definition of the routes matter.

You need to put your "Action" before the "DefaultApi"

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
        name: "Action",
        routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}"
    );

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
                name: "DefaultApi",
                routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
                defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
    );

Otherwise the wep.api interprets your url /api/company/Authenticate as controller=company and id=Authenticate so it routes to your Get action.