ASP.Net MVC route mapping

Question

I'm new to MVC (and ASP.Net routing). I'm trying to map *.aspx to a controller called "PageController".

routes.MapRoute(
   "Page",
   "{name}.aspx",
   new { controller = "Page", action = "Index", id = "" }
);

Wouldn't the code above map *.aspx to "PageController"? When I run this and type in any .aspx page I get the following error:

The controller for path '/Page.aspx' could not be found or it does not implement the IController interface. Parameter name: controllerType

Is there something I'm not doing here?

Answer 1

Not sure how your controller looks, the error seems to be pointing to the fact that it can't find the controller. Did you inherit off of Controller after creating the PageController class? Is the PageController located in the Controllers directory?

Here is my route in the Global.asax.cs

routes.MapRoute(
    "Page", 
    "{Page}.aspx", 
    new { controller = "Page", action = "Index", id = "" }
);

Here is my controller, which is located in the Controllers folder:

using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace MvcApplication1.Controllers
{
    public class PageController : Controller
    {
     public void Index()
     {
      Response.Write("Page.aspx content.");
     }
    }
}

Answer 2

I just answered my own question. I had the routes backwards (Default was above page). Below is the correct order. So this brings up the next question... how does the "Default" route match (I assume they use regular expressions here) the "Page" route?

routes.MapRoute(
            "Page",
            "{Name}.aspx",
            new { controller = "Page", action = "Display", id = "" }
        );

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

Answer 3

I just answered my own question. I had the routes backwards (Default was above page).

Yeah, you have to put all custom routes above the Default route.

So this brings up the next question... how does the "Default" route match (I assume they use regular expressions here) the "Page" route?

The Default route matches based on what we call Convention over Configuration. Scott Guthrie explains it well in his first blog post on ASP.NET MVC. I recommend that you read through it and also his other posts. Keep in mind that these were posted based on the first CTP and the framework has changed. You can also find web cast on ASP.NET MVC on the asp.net site by Scott Hanselman.

• http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/11/13/asp-net-mvc-framework-part-1.aspx
• http://www.asp.net/MVC/

Answer 4

On one of Rob Conery's MVC Storefront screencasts, he encounters this exact issue. It's at around the 23 minute mark if you're interested.