How to change already assigned route in ASP.NET web api 2

Question

Please point me to right question if this is a duplicate. I haven't quite found one that addresses what I expressing.

So I have a controller that has two same routes

// GET: api/UserPwordHints/5
[ResponseType(typeof(UserPwordHintsModels))]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> GetUserPwordHintsModels(string id)

// PUT: api/UserPwordHints/5
[ResponseType(typeof(void))]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> PutUserPwordHintsModels(string id, 
UserPwordHintsModels userPwordHintsModels)

The only difference is the HTTP Method. Now when I use the route, the second route is called

  // PUT: api/UserPwordHints/5

My WebConfig.cs looks like this

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "DefaultApi",
            routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
            defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
        );

Which is the default. I know through my search on SO that I have add a code that explicitly directs which one to use. However they both have the same route. What would be best way to tell which exact one to use?

EDIT: Using a GET Method still calls the PUT Method with an Error

cannot send a content-body with this verb-type post

EDIT2 Calling Method

GET_METHOD = "GET"
SendWebRequest(getPassWordHintURL, requestBody:=body, httpMethod:=GET_METHOD)


Private Function SendWebRequest(
                   requestUrl As String,
                   Optional requestBody As String = Nothing,
                   Optional httpMethod As String = "POST",
                   Optional bearerToken As String = Nothing) As String

        Dim responseFromServer

        httpReq = WebRequest.Create(requestUrl)
        httpReq.Proxy = Nothing
        httpReq.Method = httpMethod
        httpReq.ContentType = "application/json"

        If bearerToken IsNot Nothing Then
            httpReq.Headers.Add(HttpRequestHeader.Authorization, "Bearer " + bearerToken)
        End If

        httpReq.ContentLength = 0

        If requestBody IsNot Nothing Then
            Dim dataBytes = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(requestBody)
            httpReq.ContentLength = dataBytes.Length
            Dim stream = httpReq.GetRequestStream()
            stream.Write(dataBytes, 0, dataBytes.Length)
            stream.Close()
        End If

        Dim resp As WebResponse
        Try
            resp = httpReq.GetResponse()
            Dim dataStream = resp.GetResponseStream()
            Dim reader = New StreamReader(dataStream)
            ' Read the content.
            responseFromServer = reader.ReadToEnd()

            dataStream.Close()
        Catch ex As WebException
            Throw ex
        End Try

        Return responseFromServer
    End Function

Answer 1

Routes defined for both the methods are same, but type of method is different No need to change default route.

If you want to call GetUserPwordHintsModels() , then use route as

   // GET: api/UserPwordHints/5
       ^^^^ See the difference

If you want to call PutUserPwordHintsModels() , then use route as

 // PUT: api/UserPwordHints/5
    ^^^^ PUT and GET

You can decorate your methods using HTTPPut and HTTPGet annotations. Similar to

// GET: api/UserPwordHints/5
[ResponseType(typeof(UserPwordHintsModels)), HTTPGet]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> GetUserPwordHintsModels(string id)

// PUT: api/UserPwordHints/5
[ResponseType(typeof(void)), HTTPPut]
public async Task<IHttpActionResult> PutUserPwordHintsModels(string id, 
UserPwordHintsModels userPwordHintsModels)

For more details : MSDN Routing to controller actions