ASP.NET MVC Routing - "Blank" Route

Question

Can I set up a route that will get mapped from a root-level URL like this?

I'm using the VS2010 built-in web server.

Attempting to set up a route with a blank or a single-slash URL string doesn't work:

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

It results in the error "The route URL cannot start with a '/' or '~' character and it cannot contain a '?' character.". Thanks in advance! My entire route definition is here:

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

        routes.MapRoute(
            "EditingTitles", // Route name
            "{controller}/{action}/{startingLetter}", // URL with parameters
            new { controller = "Admin", action = "Index", startingLetter = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
        );

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

Show us your other routes, I had a problem similar to above (and your notes on XSaint32's answer), my default route was resulting in a 404 unless i specified a controller/action and it was due to a bad named route eslewhere in my routes — Jimmy
– Jimmy, Commented Nov 3, 2010 at 14:42

dotariel · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-03 14:16:05Z

10

What are you trying to achieve here... a URL that looks like this? http://www.acme.com/ ? Because if you are, the default route will achieve that when none of the parameters are specified.

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

answered Nov 3, 2010 at 14:16

dotariel

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6 Comments

blaster Over a year ago

You're right, that URL is what I'm trying to achieve. I already have a route exactly like the one you specify . . . but I get an HTTP 404 ("the resource could not be found") error when I F5 my project and it hits the default URL, so it seemed like I had to somehow handle the "empty URL" case specifically.

dotariel Over a year ago

Can you paste that route here?

Jimmy Over a year ago

Sounds like another specified route is bad, I had a similar problem and my default route was being overwritten and not handling the root url. Please post all of your routes in the question.

dotariel Over a year ago

I recommend using Phil Haack's route debugger: haacked.com/archive/2008/03/13/url-routing-debugger.aspx

blaster Over a year ago

Good point; I updated the question to include all my routes. I'll check out the route debugger that was posted. Thanks!

|

Samuel Diogo · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-21 04:39:42Z

Using ASPNET MVC5: RouteConfig.cs file:

 public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
 {
    routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "Homepage",
        url: "",
        defaults: new { controller = "Content", action = "Index" }
    );
    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "foo",
        url: "bar",
        defaults: new { controller = "Content", action = "Index" }
    );
    routes.MapMvcAttributeRoutes();

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

Plus:
If you wishes to redirect your homepage to another route automatically, like "http://www.yoursite.com/" to "http://www.yoursite.com/bar", just use the method RedirectToRoute():

public class ContentController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            return RedirectToRoute("foo");
        }
    }

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