Attribute Routing in ASP.Net MVC 5.0

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

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

public class RouteConfig
{
    public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
    {
        routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
        routes.MapMvcAttributeRoutes();
        routes.MapRoute(
            "Default", // Route name
            "{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
            new { controller = "Home", action = "about", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
        );
    }
}

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // URL: /Mvctest
    [Route("Mvctest")]
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
}

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // Optional URI Parameter
    // URL: /Mvctest/
    // URL: /Mvctest/0023654
    
    [Route("Mvctest/{customerName?}")]
    public ActionResult OtherTest(string customerName)
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
    
    // Optional URI Parameter with default value
    // URL: /Mvctest/
    // URL: /Mvctest/0023654
    
    [Route("Mvctest/{customerName=0036952}")]
    public ActionResult OtherTest(string customerName)
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
}

Route Prefixes

We can also set a common prefix for the entire controller (all action methods within the controller) using the “RoutePrefix” attribute.

Example

[RoutePrefix("Mvctest")]
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // URL: /Mvctest/
    [Route]
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
  
    // Optional URI Parameter
    // URL: /Mvctest/
    // URL: /Mvctest/0023654
    [Route("{customerName}")]
    public ActionResult OtherTest(string customerName)
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
}

When we use a tide (~) sign with the Route attribute, it will override the route prefix.

Example

[RoutePrefix("Mvctest")]
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // URL: /NewMvctest/
    [Route("~/NewMVCTest")]
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
}

Defining Default Route using Route Attribute

We can also define a Route attribute on top of the controller, to capture the default action method as the parameter.

Example

[RoutePrefix("Mvctest")]
[Route("action=index")]
public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // URL: /Mvctest/
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
    
    // URL: /Mvctest/NewMethod
    public ActionResult NewMethod()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
}

Defining Route name

We can also define the name of the route to allow easy URI generation.

Example

[Route("Mvctest", Name = "myTestURL")]
public ActionResult Index()
{
    ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
    return View();
}

We can generate URI using Url.RouteUrl method.

<a href="@Url.RouteUrl("mainmenu")">Test URI</a>

Defining Area

We can define the "Area" name from the controller that belongs to the using RouteArea attribute. If we define the “RouteArea” attribute on top of the controller, we can remove the AreaRegistration class from global.asax.

[RouteArea("Test")]
[RoutePrefix("Mvctest")]
[Route("action=index")]

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    // URL: /Test/Mvctest/
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Welcome to ASP.NET MVC!";
        return View();
    }
}

Conclusion

Attribute Routing gives us more control over the URIs in our MVC web application. The earlier way of routing (convention-based routing) is fully supported by this version of MVC. We can also use both types of routing in the same project.