ASP.NET MVC routing by string id?

Question

In ASP.NET 2, how do I create a route that allows lookup of an object (eg Product) by a string id (eg ProductCode)? The route for looking up the same object by it's integer id (eg ProductId) is automatic, so I don't actually know how it works.

The automatic route by id is:

/Product/1

How do I also create a 2nd route that uses a string id?

/Product/red-widget

And how do I do it so that both routes are available?

craigb · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-01 04:00:13Z

20

You should take a look at using a route constraint to do this. See http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/creating-a-route-constraint-cs

routes.MapRoute(
    "Product",
    "Product/{productId}",
    new {controller="Product", action="DetailsByName"},
    new {productId = @"\w+" }
 );

In the above, the constraint regex "\w+" should limit to routes that match only "word" characters (take a look at regex docs for more details on patterns used here).

answered Oct 1, 2011 at 4:00

craigb

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6 Comments

drneel Over a year ago

And be sure to put it before the default route, otherwise it will never get hit.

JK. Over a year ago

Unfortunately that breaks several of my automatic routes because they match the regex, eg /Product/List etc. Do I need to add a route for List before this new route? How do I create a basic route?? Because they are automatic I don't actually know how.

craigb Over a year ago

Yes, you have to order things as the first route that matches will be used. The default route matches {controller}/{action}/{id}. You can explicitly list routes before this one like {controller}/list/ or {controller}/otherAction/{id} and those will match first (only if second segment of path is "list" or "otherAction").

JK. Over a year ago

Sorry it doesn't work: /Product/1 is matching the new route with the regex. Does \w+ include digits perhaps?

craigb Over a year ago

My mistake, yes \w matches numbers as well... regular-expressions.info/reference.html

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