How to set a Default Route To an Area in MVC

Question

Ok this has been asked before but there is no solid solution out there. So for purpose of myself and others who may find this useful.

In MVC2 (ASP.NET) I want it so when someone navigates to the website, there is a default area specified. So navigating to my site should send you to ControllerX ActionY in AreaZ.

Using the following route in the Global.asax

routes.MapRoute(
                "Area",
                "",
                new { area = "AreaZ", controller = "ControllerX ", action = "ActionY " }
            );

Now this works as in it does try to serve the correct page. However MVC proceeds to look for the View in the root of the site and not in the Area folder.

Is there a way to resolve this?

EDIT

There is a 'Solution' and that is in ControllerX, ActionY return the full path of the view. Bit of a hack but it does work. However I'm hoping there is a better solution.

         public ActionResult ActionY()
        {
            return View("~/Areas/AreaZ/views/ActionY.aspx");
        }

Edit:

This also becomes an issue when having a HTML ActionLink of the page. If the area is not set the Action Link is output blank.

Is all of this by design or a flaw?

User · Answer

Thanks to Aaron for pointing out that it's about locating the views, I misunderstood that.

[UPDATE] I just created a project that sends the user to an Area per default without messing with any of the code or lookup paths:

In global.asax, register as usual:

    public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
    {
        routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

        routes.MapRoute(
            "Default",                                              // Route name
            "{controller}/{action}/{id}",                           // URL with parameters
            new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = ""}  // Parameter defaults,
        );
    }

in Application_Start(), make sure to use the following order;

    protected void Application_Start()
    {
        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
        RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
    }

in you area registration, use

    public override void RegisterArea(AreaRegistrationContext context)
    {
        context.MapRoute(
            "ShopArea_default",
            "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
            new { action = "Index", id = "", controller = "MyRoute" },
            new { controller = "MyRoute" }
        );
    }

An example can be found at http://www.emphess.net/2010/01/31/areas-routes-and-defaults-in-mvc-2-rc/

I really hope that this is what you were asking for...

////

I don't think that writing a pseudo ViewEngine is the best solution in this case. (Lacking reputation, I can't comment). The WebFormsViewEngine is Area aware and contains AreaViewLocationFormats which is defined per default as

AreaViewLocationFormats = new[] {
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/{1}/{0}.ascx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.aspx",
        "~/Areas/{2}/Views/Shared/{0}.ascx",
    };

I believe you don't adhere to this convention. You posted

public ActionResult ActionY() 
{ 
    return View("~/Areas/AreaZ/views/ActionY.aspx"); 
}

as a working hack, but that should be

   return View("~/Areas/AreaZ/views/ControllerX/ActionY.aspx");

IF you don't want to follow the convention, however, you might want to take a short path by either deriving from the WebFormViewEngine (that is done in MvcContrib, for example) where you can set the lookup paths in the constructor, or -a little hacky- by specifying your convention like this on Application_Start:

((VirtualPathProviderViewEngine)ViewEngines.Engines[0]).AreaViewLocationFormats = ...;

This should be performed with a little more care, of course, but I think it shows the idea. These fields are public in VirtualPathProviderViewEngine in MVC 2 RC.

User · Answer

ummm  I don t know why all this programming  I think the original problem is solved easily by specifying this default route      routes MapRoute  Default      id                      new   controller    Home                         action    Index                         id   UrlParameter Optional

User · Answer

What I did to get this to work is the following:

I created a default controller in the root/Controllers folder. I named my controller DefaultController.

In the controller I added the following code:

namespace MyNameSpace.Controllers {
public class DefaultController : Controller {
    // GET: Default
    public ActionResult Index() {
        return RedirectToAction("Index", "ControllerName", new {area = "FolderName"});
    }
} }

In my RouterConfig.cs I added the following:

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

The trick behind all this is that I made a default constructor which will always be the startup controller every time my app starts. When it hits that default controller it will redirect to any controller I specify in the default Index Action. Which in my case is

www.myurl.com/FolderName/ControllerName

.

User · Answer

Adding the following to my Application Start works for me  although I m not sure if you have this setting in RC   var engine    WebFormViewEngine ViewEngines Engines First        These additions allow me to route default requests for     to the home area engine ViewLocationFormats   new string             Views  1   0  aspx          Views  1   0  ascx          Areas  1  Views  1   0  aspx      new        Areas  1  Views  1   0  ascx      new        Areas  1  Views  0  aspx      new        Areas  1  Views  0  ascx      new        Views  1   0  ascx          Views Shared  0  aspx          Views Shared  0  ascx

User · Answer

even it was answered already - this is the short syntax  ASP net 3  4  5    routes MapRoute  redirect all other requests      url        new           controller    UnderConstruction           action    Index             DataTokens   new RouteValueDictionary new   area    Shop

User · Answer

Accepted solution to this question is  while correct in summing up how to create a custom view engine  does not answer the  question correctly  Issue here is that Pino is incorrectly specifying his default route  Particularly his  area  definition is incorrect   Area  is checked via DataTokens collection and should be added as such   var defaultRoute   new Route    new RouteValueDictionary     controller   Default     action   Index    null  constraints   new RouteValueDictionary     area   Admin    new MvcRouteHandler     defaultRoute DataTokens Add  Namespaces   MyProject Web Admin Controller     routes Add defaultRoute     Specified  area  in defaults object will be ignored  Code above creates a default route  which catches on requests to your site s root and then calls Default controller  Index action in Admin area  Please also note  Namespaces  key being added to DataTokens  this is only required if you have multiple controllers with same name  This solution is verified with Mvc2 and Mvc3  NET 3 5 4 0

User · Answer

Well  while creating a custom view engine can work for this  still you can have an alternative    Decide what you need to show by default  That something has controller and action  and Area   right  Open that Area registration and add something like this     public override void RegisterArea AreaRegistrationContext context          this makes it work for the empty url  just domain  to act as current Area      context MapRoute           Area empty                       new   controller    Home   action    Index   id   UrlParameter Optional            namespaces  new string      Area controller namespace                     other routes of the area      Cheers

User · Answer

First  what version of MVC2 are you using  There have been significant changes from preview2 to RC   Assuming you use the RC  I think you route-mapping should look differently  In the AreaRegistration cs in your area  you can register some kind of default route  e g           context MapRoute               ShopArea default                 controller   action   id                new   action    Index   id       controller  MyRoute                 The code above will send the user to the MyRouteController in our ShopArea per default   Using an empty string as a second parameter should throw an exception  because a controller must be specified    Of course you will have to change the default route in Global asax so it doesn t interfere with this default route  e g  by using a prefix for the main site   Also see this thread and Haack s answer  MVC 2 AreaRegistration Routes Order  Hope this helps

User · Answer

I guess you want user to be redirected to ~/AreaZ URL once (s)he has visited ~/ URL. I'd achieve by means of the following code within your root HomeController.

public class HomeController
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return RedirectToAction("ActionY", "ControllerX", new { Area = "AreaZ" });
    }
}

And the following route in Global.asax.

routes.MapRoute(
    "Redirection to AreaZ",
    String.Empty,
    new { controller = "Home ", action = "Index" }
);

User · Answer

Locating the different building blocks is done in the request life cycle. One of the first steps in the ASP.NET MVC request life cycle is mapping the requested URL to the correct controller action method. This process is referred to as routing. A default route is initialized in the Global.asax file and describes to the ASP.NET MVC framework how to handle a request. Double-clicking on the Global.asax file in the MvcApplication1 project will display the following code:

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Web; using System.Web.Mvc; using System.Web.Routing;

namespace MvcApplication1 {

   public class GlobalApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
   {
       public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
       {
           routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

           routes.MapRoute(
               "Default",                                          // Route name
               "{controller}/{action}/{id}",                       // URL with parameters
               new { controller = "Home", action = "Index",
                     id = "" }  // Parameter defaults
           );

       }

       protected void Application_Start()
       {
           RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
       }
   }

}

In the Application_Start() event handler, which is fired whenever the application is compiled or the web server is restarted, a route table is registered. The default route is named Default, and responds to a URL in the form of http://www.example.com/{controller}/{action}/{id}. The variables between { and } are populated with actual values from the request URL or with the default values if no override is present in the URL. This default route will map to the Home controller and to the Index action method, according to the default routing parameters. We won't have any other action with this routing map.

By default, all the possible URLs can be mapped through this default route. It is also possible to create our own routes. For example, let's map the URL http://www.example.com/Employee/Maarten to the Employee controller, the Show action, and the firstname parameter. The following code snippet can be inserted in the Global.asax file we've just opened. Because the ASP.NET MVC framework uses the first matching route, this code snippet should be inserted above the default route; otherwise the route will never be used.

routes.MapRoute(

   "EmployeeShow",                    // Route name
   "Employee/{firstname}",            // URL with parameters
    new {                             // Parameter defaults
       controller = "Employee",
       action = "Show", 
       firstname = "" 
   }  

);

Now, let's add the necessary components for this route. First of all, create a class named EmployeeController in the Controllers folder. You can do this by adding a new item to the project and selecting the MVC Controller Class template located under the Web | MVC category. Remove the Index action method, and replace it with a method or action named Show. This method accepts a firstname parameter and passes the data into the ViewData dictionary. This dictionary will be used by the view to display data.

The EmployeeController class will pass an Employee object to the view. This Employee class should be added in the Models folder (right-click on this folder and then select Add | Class from the context menu). Here's the code for the Employee class:

namespace MvcApplication1.Models {

   public class Employee
   {
       public string FirstName { get; set; }
       public string LastName { get; set; }
       public string Email { get; set; }
   }

}

User · Answer

This one interested me  and I finally had a chance to look into it   Other folks apparently haven t understood that this is an issue with finding the view  not an issue with the routing itself - and that s probably because your question title indicates that it s about routing  In any case  because this is a View-related issue  the only way to get what you want is to override the default view engine   Normally  when you do this  it s for the simple purpose of switching your view engine  i e  to Spark  NHaml  etc     In this case  it s not the View-creation logic we need to override  but the FindPartialView and FindView methods in the VirtualPathProviderViewEngine class  You can thank your lucky stars that these methods are in fact virtual  because everything else in the VirtualPathProviderViewEngine is not even accessible - it s private  and that makes it very annoying to override the find logic because you have to basically rewrite half of the code that s already been written if you want it to play nice with the location cache and the location formats   After some digging in Reflector I finally managed to come up with a working solution  What I ve done here is to first create an abstract AreaAwareViewEngine that derives directly from VirtualPathProviderViewEngine instead of WebFormViewEngine   I did this so that if you want to create Spark views instead  or whatever   you can still use this class as the base type  The code below is pretty long-winded  so to give you a quick summary of what it actually does   It lets you put a  2  into the location format  which corresponds to the area name  the same way  1  corresponds to the controller name   That s it  That s what we had to write all this code for  BaseAreaAwareViewEngine cs public abstract class BaseAreaAwareViewEngine   VirtualPathProviderViewEngine       private static readonly string   EmptyLocations             public override ViewEngineResult FindView          ControllerContext controllerContext  string viewName          string masterName  bool useCache                if  controllerContext    null                        throw new ArgumentNullException  quot controllerContext quot                      if  string IsNullOrEmpty viewName                         throw new ArgumentNullException viewName                   quot Value cannot be null or empty  quot                       string area   getArea controllerContext           return FindAreaView controllerContext  area  viewName              masterName  useCache              public override ViewEngineResult FindPartialView          ControllerContext controllerContext  string partialViewName          bool useCache                if  controllerContext    null                        throw new ArgumentNullException  quot controllerContext quot                      if  string IsNullOrEmpty partialViewName                         throw new ArgumentNullException partialViewName                   quot Value cannot be null or empty  quot                       string area   getArea controllerContext           return FindAreaPartialView controllerContext  area              partialViewName  useCache              protected virtual ViewEngineResult FindAreaView          ControllerContext controllerContext  string areaName  string viewName          string masterName  bool useCache                string controllerName               controllerContext RouteData GetRequiredString  quot controller quot            string   searchedViewPaths          string viewPath   GetPath controllerContext  ViewLocationFormats               quot ViewLocationFormats quot   viewName  controllerName  areaName   quot View quot               useCache  out searchedViewPaths           string   searchedMasterPaths          string masterPath   GetPath controllerContext  MasterLocationFormats               quot MasterLocationFormats quot   masterName  controllerName  areaName               quot Master quot   useCache  out searchedMasterPaths           if   string IsNullOrEmpty viewPath   amp  amp                string IsNullOrEmpty masterPath                    string IsNullOrEmpty masterName                          return new ViewEngineResult CreateView controllerContext  viewPath                  masterPath   this                     return new ViewEngineResult              searchedViewPaths Union lt string gt  searchedMasterPaths               protected virtual ViewEngineResult FindAreaPartialView          ControllerContext controllerContext  string areaName          string viewName  bool useCache                string controllerName               controllerContext RouteData GetRequiredString  quot controller quot            string   searchedViewPaths          string partialViewPath   GetPath controllerContext              ViewLocationFormats   quot PartialViewLocationFormats quot   viewName              controllerName  areaName   quot Partial quot   useCache              out searchedViewPaths           if   string IsNullOrEmpty partialViewPath                         return new ViewEngineResult CreatePartialView controllerContext                  partialViewPath   this                     return new ViewEngineResult searchedViewPaths              protected string CreateCacheKey string prefix  string name          string controller  string area                return string Format CultureInfo InvariantCulture               quot  ViewCacheEntry  0   1   2   3   4   quot               base GetType   AssemblyQualifiedName              prefix  name  controller  area              protected string GetPath ControllerContext controllerContext          string   locations  string locationsPropertyName  string name          string controllerName  string areaName  string cacheKeyPrefix          bool useCache  out string   searchedLocations                searchedLocations   EmptyLocations          if  string IsNullOrEmpty name                         return string Empty                    if   locations    null      locations Length    0                         throw new InvalidOperationException string Format  quot The property  quot                     quot   0   cannot be null or empty  quot   locationsPropertyName                      bool isSpecificPath   IsSpecificPath name           string key   CreateCacheKey cacheKeyPrefix  name              isSpecificPath   string Empty   controllerName              isSpecificPath   string Empty   areaName           if  useCache                        string viewLocation   ViewLocationCache GetViewLocation                  controllerContext HttpContext  key               if  viewLocation    null                                return viewLocation                                  if   isSpecificPath                        return GetPathFromGeneralName controllerContext  locations  name                  controllerName  areaName  key  ref searchedLocations                     return GetPathFromSpecificName controllerContext  name  key              ref searchedLocations              protected string GetPathFromGeneralName ControllerContext controllerContext          string   locations  string name  string controllerName          string areaName  string cacheKey  ref string   searchedLocations                string virtualPath   string Empty          searchedLocations   new string locations Length           for  int i   0  i  lt  locations Length  i                          if  string IsNullOrEmpty areaName   amp  amp  locations i  Contains  quot  2  quot                                  continue                            string testPath   string Format CultureInfo InvariantCulture                  locations i   name  controllerName  areaName               if  FileExists controllerContext  testPath                                 searchedLocations   EmptyLocations                  virtualPath   testPath                  ViewLocationCache InsertViewLocation                      controllerContext HttpContext  cacheKey  virtualPath                   return virtualPath                            searchedLocations i    testPath                    return virtualPath             protected string GetPathFromSpecificName          ControllerContext controllerContext  string name  string cacheKey          ref string   searchedLocations                string virtualPath   name          if   FileExists controllerContext  name                         virtualPath   string Empty              searchedLocations   new string     name                      ViewLocationCache InsertViewLocation controllerContext HttpContext              cacheKey  virtualPath           return virtualPath              protected string getArea ControllerContext controllerContext                   First try to get area from a RouteValue override  like one specified in the Defaults arg to a Route          object areaO          controllerContext RouteData Values TryGetValue  quot area quot   out areaO               If not specified  try to get it from the Controller s namespace         if  areaO    null              return  string areaO           string namespa   controllerContext Controller GetType   Namespace          int areaStart   namespa IndexOf  quot Areas  quot            if  areaStart    -1              return null           areaStart    6          int areaEnd   namespa IndexOf      areaStart   1           string area   namespa Substring areaStart  areaEnd - areaStart           return area             protected static bool IsSpecificPath string name                char ch   name 0           if  ch                               return  ch                            return true           Now as stated  this isn t a concrete engine  so you have to create that as well   This part  fortunately  is much easier  all we need to do is set the default formats and actually create the views  AreaAwareViewEngine cs public class AreaAwareViewEngine   BaseAreaAwareViewEngine       public AreaAwareViewEngine                 MasterLocationFormats   new string                          quot   Areas  2  Views  1   0  master quot                quot   Areas  2  Views  1   0  cshtml quot                quot   Areas  2  Views Shared  0  master quot                quot   Areas  2  Views Shared  0  cshtml quot                quot   Views  1   0  master quot                quot   Views  1   0  cshtml quot                quot   Views Shared  0  master quot               quot   Views Shared  0  cshtml quot                     ViewLocationFormats   new string                          quot   Areas  2  Views  1   0  aspx quot                quot   Areas  2  Views  1   0  ascx quot                quot   Areas  2  Views  1   0  cshtml quot                quot   Areas  2  Views Shared  0  aspx quot                quot   Areas  2  Views Shared  0  ascx quot                quot   Areas  2  Views Shared  0  cshtml quot                quot   Views  1   0  aspx quot                quot   Views  1   0  ascx quot                quot   Views  1   0  cshtml quot                quot   Views Shared  0  aspx quot               quot   Views Shared  0  ascx quot               quot   Views Shared  0  cshtml quot                     PartialViewLocationFormats   ViewLocationFormats             protected override IView CreatePartialView          ControllerContext controllerContext  string partialPath                if  partialPath EndsWith  quot  cshtml quot                return new System Web Mvc RazorView controllerContext  partialPath  null  false  null           else             return new WebFormView controllerContext  partialPath              protected override IView CreateView ControllerContext controllerContext          string viewPath  string masterPath                if  viewPath EndsWith  quot  cshtml quot                return new RazorView controllerContext  viewPath  masterPath  false  null           else             return new WebFormView controllerContext  viewPath  masterPath            Note that we ve added few entries to the standard ViewLocationFormats   These are the new  2  entries  where the  2  will be mapped to the area we put in the RouteData   I ve left the MasterLocationFormats alone  but obviously you can change that if you want  Now modify your global asax to register this view engine  Global asax cs protected void Application Start         RegisterRoutes RouteTable Routes       ViewEngines Engines Clear        ViewEngines Engines Add new AreaAwareViewEngine           and register the default route  public static void RegisterRoutes RouteCollection routes        routes IgnoreRoute  quot  resource  axd   pathInfo  quot        routes MapRoute           quot Area quot            quot  quot           new   area    quot AreaZ quot   controller    quot Default quot   action    quot ActionY quot               routes MapRoute           quot Default quot            quot  controller   action   id  quot           new   controller    quot Home quot   action    quot Index quot   id    quot  quot              Now Create the AreaController we just referenced  DefaultController cs  in   Controllers   public class DefaultController   Controller       public ActionResult ActionY                 return View  quot TestView quot             Obviously we need the directory structure and view to go with it - we ll keep this super simple  TestView aspx  in   Areas AreaZ Views Default  or   Areas AreaZ Views Shared    lt    Page Title  quot  quot  Language  quot C  quot  Inherits  quot System Web Mvc ViewPage quot    gt   lt h2 gt TestView lt  h2 gt  This is a test view in AreaZ   And that s it   Finally  we re done  For the most part  you should be able to just take the BaseAreaAwareViewEngine and AreaAwareViewEngine and drop it into any MVC project  so even though it took a lot of code to get this done  you only have to write it once   After that  it s just a matter of editing a few lines in global asax cs and creating your site structure

User · Answer

routes MapRoute                   Area                     area                     new   area    AreaZ   controller    ControlerX    action    ActionY                      Have you tried that

User · Answer

This is how I did it  I don t know why MapRoute   doesn t allow you to set the area  but it does return the route object so you can continue to make any additional changes you would like  I use this because I have a modular MVC site that is sold to enterprise customers and they need to be able to drop dlls into the bin folder to add new modules  I allow them to change the  HomeArea  in the AppSettings config   var route   routes MapRoute                   Home Default                                         new  controller    Home   action    index                     new      IPC Web Core Controllers                      route DataTokens  area     area    Edit  You can try this as well in your AreaRegistration RegisterArea for the area you want the user going to by default  I haven t tested it but AreaRegistrationContext MapRoute does sets route DataTokens  area     this AreaName  for you   context MapRoute                       Home Default                                                 new  controller    Home   action    index                         new      IPC Web Core Controllers

[asp.net-mvc] How to set a Default Route (To an Area) in MVC

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