Configuring Routes asp.net webapi

Question

I am building an angularJS application with a asp.net webapi backend. In my routeconfig file, i have this

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

This works fine. Any Url that is called is returned the Home/Index view (the only view i have) to the application, and angularJS works out if there is a querystring and works out which state to show.

I have the basic Get, Put, Post and Delete methods in my WebApi, and i can call them fine. Examples are

public class CompanyController : ApiController
{
    private CompanyService _service;

    public CompanyController(CompanyService service)
    {
        _service = service;
    }

    public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Get()
    {
        ...

        return Ok(model);
    }

    public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Get(int id)
    {
        ...

        return Ok(model);
    }

    public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Post(CompanyModel model)
    {
        ...

        return Ok();
    }

    public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Put(Company model)
    {
        ...

        return Ok();
    }

    public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Delete(CompanyModel model)
    {
        ...

        return Ok();
    }
}

Now i would like to add another method to my api, where the user can load companies, but also pass in a term to search for (a string), a pageSize (int) and a page number (int). Something like this

public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Get(string term, int page, int pageSize) {
    ...

    return Ok(results);
}

Now i understand that i need to add another route, to make sure this method can be called. Fine, so i add this to my RouteConfig.

// search
routes.MapRoute(
    name: "search",
    url: "api/{controller}/{page}/{pageSize}/{term}",
    defaults: new { page = @"\d+", pageSize = @"\d+", term = UrlParameter.Optional }
);

Why doesnt this work?? I got a resource cannot be found error, when trying to call it via postman using the url localhost/api/company/1/10/a, where 1 = page, 10 = pageSize and a = term

Its probably a simple answer, but new to MVC so still learning.

Answer 1

1- You are using Get method, which means you can pass your search option via Url, so you can create a search option object like :

public class SearchOptions
{
   public string Term{get; set;}
   public int Page {get; set;}
   public int PageSize {get; set;}
}

then you can change your method to be like this

[HttpGet]
[Route("api/blabla/SearchSomething")]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> Get([FromUri]SearchOptions searchOptions) {
    ...

    return Ok(results);
}

Notice the Route attribute that I've decorated the method by, you can use different constraints for the method parameters, have a look at this .

Finally you can call the method from the client like this

api/blabla/SearchSomething?term=somevalue&page=1&pageSize=10

Hope that helps.