Web API Routing - api controller action id dysfunctions api controller id

Question

I have the default Route in Global asax    RouteTable Routes MapHttpRoute           name   DefaultApi            routeTemplate   api  controller   id             defaults  new   id   System Web Http RouteParameter Optional                 I wanted to be able to target a specific function  so I created another route   RouteTable Routes MapHttpRoute           name   WithActionApi            routeTemplate   api  controller   action   id             defaults  new   id   System Web Http RouteParameter Optional                 So  in my controller  I have       public string Get int id                return  object of id id                       HttpGet      public IEnumerable lt string gt  ByCategoryId int id                return new string      byCategory1    byCategory2             Calling     api records bycategoryid 5 will give me what I want  However  calling     api records 1 will give me the error      Multiple actions were found that match the request        I understand why that is - the routes just define what URLs are valid  but when it comes to function matching  both Get int id  and ByCategoryId int id  match api  controller   id   which is what confuses the framework   What do I need to do to get the default API route to work again  and keep the one with  action   I thought of creating a different controller named RecordByCategoryIdController to match the default API route  for which I would request     api recordbycategoryid 5  However  I find that to be a  dirty   thus unsatisfactory  solution  I ve looked for answers on this and no tutorial out there on using a route with  action  even mentions this issue

User · Answer

To differentiate the routes  try adding a constraint that id must be numeric   RouteTable Routes MapHttpRoute           name   DefaultApi            routeTemplate   api  controller   id             constraints  new   id      d         Only matches if  id  is one or more digits           defaults  new   id   System Web Http RouteParameter Optional

User · Answer

The possible reason can also be that you have not inherited Controller from ApiController  Happened with me took a while to understand the same

User · Answer

Try this   public class WebApiConfig       public static void Register HttpConfiguration config                   Web API configuration and services          var json   config Formatters JsonFormatter          json SupportedMediaTypes Add new System Net Http Headers MediaTypeHeaderValue  application json             config Formatters Remove config Formatters XmlFormatter               Web API routes         config MapHttpAttributeRoutes             config Routes MapHttpRoute              name   DefaultApi               routeTemplate   api  controller   action   id                defaults  new   id   RouteParameter Optional   Action  RouteParameter Optional

User · Answer

The route engine uses the same sequence as you add rules into it  Once it gets the first matched rule  it will stop checking other rules and take this to search for controller and action    So  you should     Put your specific rules ahead of your general rules like default   which means use RouteTable Routes MapHttpRoute to map  WithActionApi  first  then  DefaultApi    Remove the defaults  new   id   System Web Http RouteParameter Optional   parameter of your  WithActionApi  rule because once id is optional  url like   api  part1   part2   will never goes into  DefaultApi   Add an named action to your  DefaultApi  to tell the route engine which action to enter  Otherwise once you have more than one actions in your controller  the engine won t know which one to use and throws  Multiple actions were found that match the request        Then to make it matches your Get method  use an ActionNameAttribute    So your route should like this      Map this rule first RouteTable Routes MapRoute        WithActionApi         api  controller   action   id        RouteTable Routes MapRoute       DefaultApi        api  controller   id        new   action  DefaultAction   id   System Web Http RouteParameter Optional        And your controller    ActionName  DefaultAction      Map Action and you can name your method with any text public string Get int id        return  object of id id               HttpGet  public IEnumerable lt string gt  ByCategoryId int id        return new string      byCategory1    byCategory2

User · Answer

You can solve your problem with help of  Attribute routing    Controller   Route  api category  categoryId     public IEnumerable lt Order gt  GetCategoryId int categoryId            URI in jquery  api category 1   Route Configuration  using System Web Http   namespace WebApplication       public static class WebApiConfig               public static void Register HttpConfiguration config                           Web API routes             config MapHttpAttributeRoutes                    Other Web API configuration not shown                      and your default routing is working as default convention-based routing  Controller  public string Get int id                return  object of id id              URI in Jquery    api records 1    Route Configuration  public static class WebApiConfig       public static void Register HttpConfiguration config                   Attribute routing          config MapHttpAttributeRoutes                Convention-based routing          config Routes MapHttpRoute              name   DefaultApi               routeTemplate   api  controller   id                defaults  new   id   RouteParameter Optional                        Review article for more information Attribute routing and onvention-based routing here  amp  this

[asp.net] Web API Routing - api/{controller}/{action}/{id} "dysfunctions" api/{controller}/{id}

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