Question

I have this route that i just added

        routes.MapRoute(
            "MyRoute",
            "MyController/{action}/{orgId}/{startDate}/{endDate}",
            new
                {
                    controller = "MyController",
                    action = "MyAction",
                    orgId = 0,
                    startDate = DateTime.Today.AddMonths(-1),
                    endDate = DateTime.Today
                },
            new
            {
                action = new FromValuesListConstraint(new string[] { "MyAction", "MyActionEx" }),
                orgId = new IntegerRouteConstraint(),
                startDate = new DateTimeRouteConstraint(),
                endDate = new DateTimeRouteConstraint()
            }

when i put in this url, it resolves down to the default route (controller, action,id) and the above rout does not catch this url:

http://localhost:1713/MyController/MyAction/16

But this below works fine.

http://localhost:1713/MyController/MyAction/16/11-May-10/11-May-10

my question is that i thought both would work as i am giving default values to the startDate and enddate fields

i tested this using the RouteDebugger and this route turned up false

how can i have these last two parameter as optional but still have the validation ?

Answer 1

The problem is this in this current format does not fit to your route (requires 5-part URL).
You may change this line

      startDate = DateTime.Today.AddMonths(-1),
      endDate = DateTime.Today

to

      startDate = UrlParameter.Optional,
      endDate = UrlParameter.Optional

And do the conversion and defaults in the controller itself.