Web api routing fails in asp.net MVC 5

Question

I have a asp.net MVC 5 project with lots of controllers and web apis. The problem is when i want to access one of the api methods, i get No HTTP resource was found that matches the request URI ... error.

I tried every solution in similar posts but i wasn't lucky. This is my RouteConfig file:

public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
{
    // Routing configs
    config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

    // Files api routs
    config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
        name: "filesApi_1",
        routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}/{file}",
        defaults: new object[]
        {
            new { controller = "Files", action ="SaveAttachment"}
        }
     );

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "filesApi_2",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}/{fileName}",
    defaults:
        new { controller = "Files", action = "DeleteAttachment" }
    );
}

When i go to htt://localhost:xxxx/api/Files/DeleteAttachment/file_name, i get the error.

My Global.asax.cs is:

protected void Application_Start()
    {
        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
        FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
        GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register); 
        RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);

        Mapper.Initialize(c=> c.AddProfile<MappingProfile>());
    }

The controller is:

public class FilesController : ApiController
{
    public void SaveAttachment(HttpPostedFileBase file){}
    public void DeleteAttachment(string fileName){}
}

It is very strange that if i add attribute routing for web api actions, they work as expected. For example:

[Route("api/Files/DeleteAttachment/{fileName}")]
public void DeleteAttachment(string fileName){}

I don't want write Route for every action because i have lots of actions and it make the code fragile. How can i fix routing in the route table? Thanks.

Answer 1

You have to check the file name. If the file url is coming or the value in filename contain '/' it will split the route and create a new url as

htt://localhost:xxxx/api/Files/DeleteAttachment/file_name_before_slash/file_name_after_slash

It will not match your URL.

Check value in file name part of your code.

------------------- Edit 1 ------------------------------------

The problem may be in filename "file.jpg". The dot (.) in the file name causes the issue refer to this link , more similar questions are available. Also check this one .

try

 <configuration>
     <system.web>
         <httpRuntime relaxedUrlToFileSystemMapping="true"/>

          <!-- ... your other settings ... -->
     </system.web>
 </configuration>

Answer 2

Tag your Api controller methods with attributes [HttpGet] or [HttpPost] so the routing mechanism will know when to use each.

public class FilesController : ApiController
{
    [HttpPost]
    public void SaveAttachment(HttpPostedFileBase file){}
    [HttpGet]
    public void DeleteAttachment(string fileName){}
}

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And the second issue may be with your default routing values:

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "filesApi_2",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}/{fileName}",
    defaults:
        new { controller = "Files", action = "DeleteAttachment" }
    );

There is fileName parameter missing in default route, so change it to:

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "filesApi_2",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}/{fileName}",
    defaults:
        new { controller = "Files", action = "DeleteAttachment", fileName = "" }
    );

or

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "filesApi_2",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}/{fileName}",
    defaults:
        new { controller = "Files", action = "DeleteAttachment", fileName = RouteParameter.Optional }
    );

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok, if it is still not working than it is due to file_name containing . . Web api routing doesn't like dot characters in last parameter.

Change your URL from http://localhost:58893/api/files/deleteattachment/file.jpg
to
http://localhost:58893/api/files/deleteattachment/file.jpg/
and you should be able to invoke requested method

Answer 3

Convention routing follows template based routing that you configure in webApiConfig but Attribute routing is a lot more flexible. I agree that you may not want to write [Route] attribute over every method but later provides a lot of flexibility.

In one of my project, I could use the same controller to have different route APIs serving similar functionality and as asked by UI development team. Refer this article