Question

I’ve looked through the various questions already asked on this topic, and I’ve spent time trying to get it working how I would like it to, but I haven’t had much luck so hopefully someone here can help me fill in the gaps.

With a new site I’m creating I wanted to try getting the URL structure to be more RESTful (I wanted to do it with my first MVC3 creations, but, time did not permit such experimenting). However, I don’t want the different URLs to all point to the same action. I want different actions for each resource requested to keep the controller code concise and intuitive.

Here is an example of the URL structure I’m shooting for:

/Case   //This currently works
/Case/123   //This currently works
/Case/123/Comment   //This one does not work (404)

Here is how I currently have my routes setup:

routes.MapRoute(
    "Case",
    "Case/{id}",
    new { controller = "Case", action = "Number" }
);

routes.MapRoute(
    "CaseComment",
    "Case/{caseId}/Comment/{id}",
    new { controller = "Case", action = "CaseComment" }
);

routes.MapRoute(
    "Default",
    "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
    new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
);

The first two URL’s I listed are worked correctly with this route structure. The first URL takes me to my listing page. When an id is specified, I hit the Number action so I can show details for that particular record. The Comment URL is not working.

I have the action for the third URL defined as:

public ActionResult CaseComment(string caseId, string id) {
    //Narr
}

What am I missing? And, could I set this up in an easier fashion for future resources?

Answer 1

I needed to make the id parameter optional.

routes.MapRoute(
    "Case Resources",
    "Case/{caseId}/{action}/{id}",
    new { controller = "Case", action = "CaseComment", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
);