ASP.NET Web API Routing in ApiController

Question

I've been struggling with my routing for some time now and after a few days of trying to Google the solution without luck, I'm hoping someone may be able to shine some light on my problem.

I have the following routes in my WebApiConfig:

 config.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AccountStuffId", routeTemplate: "api/Account/{action}/{Id}", defaults: new { controller = "Account", Id = RouteParameter.Optional } ); config.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AccountStuffAlias", routeTemplate: "api/Account/{action}/{Alias}", defaults: new { controller = "Account", Alias = RouteParameter.Optional } ); 

and the following controller methods:

 [HttpGet] public Account GetAccountById(string Id) { return null; } [HttpGet] public Account GetAccountByAlias(string alias) { return null; } 

If I call: /API/Account/GetAccountById/stuff then it properly calls GetAccountById.

But if I call /API/Account/GetAccountByAlias/stuff then nothing happens.

Clearly order matters here because if I switch my declarations of my routes in my WebApiConfig, then /API/Account/GetAccountByAlias/stuff properly calls GetAccountByAlias, and /API/Account/GetAccountById/stuff does nothing.

The two [HttpGet] decorations are part of what I found on Google, but they don't seem to resolve the issue.

Any thoughts? Am I doing anything obviously wrong?

Edit:

When the route fails, the page displays the following:

<Error> <Message> No HTTP resource was found that matches the request URI 'http://localhost:6221/API/Account/GetAccountByAlias/stuff'. </Message> <MessageDetail> No action was found on the controller 'Account' that matches the request. </MessageDetail> </Error> 

Answer 1

You should be able to just have the following route:

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "AccountStuffId", routeTemplate: "api/Account/{action}/{Id}", defaults: new { controller = "Account", Id = RouteParameter.Optional } ); 

and do the following for your actions:

[HttpGet] public Account GetAccountById(string Id) { return null; } [HttpGet] public Account GetAccountByAlias([FromUri(Name="id")]string alias) { return null; } 

Answer 2

Is there a reason you need to be declaring two different routes?

Look at the guide at: http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/web-api-routing-and-actions/routing-in-aspnet-web-api

They have one default route and going by the example all you need in your config is

routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "API Default", routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}", defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional } );