How to change http://site/Image.aspx?Name=Cassandra into http://site/Image/Cassandra?

Question

Well, simple question. I'm working with VS2008 on an ASP.NET web application which has several lists of data. To keep it simple, let's call it an image gallery. (It's not, but image galleries have a simple, understandable data model as example.) I have a table with images where every image has a name and a category. Images are grouped by category and selectable by name. Easy, right? :-)

I created http://site/ImageList.aspx which accepts an optional parameter (like http://site/ImageList.aspx?category=Ladies) which will display a list of all images, or all images from a specific category. And I created http://site/Image.aspx?name=Cassandra which will display a specific image.

But I would like the user to see things like:

• http://site/Images/
• http://site/Images/Ladies
• http://site/Image/Cassandra

instead. And this should be arranged from within the application itself, not by making modifications to the IIS server.

So, can someone provide me a step-by-step overview showing how to build a web application like this? (I know it has to do something with routing and with UriTemplate's. I can Google for it and tried that, but the amount of information just adds to the confusion.)

Unfortunately, I have to deal with one additional problem: ASP.NET MVC is a good technique but I have to work without these additional downloads. I am restricted to the options that VS2008 by default offers. (Basically, Management in all their "wisdom" told me not to use it.)

Answer 1

take a look at asp.net mvc

but it's quite possible to use ASP.NET Routing in a traditional way (ASP.Net form). Follow step-by-step instructions on how to do it here

Answer 2

You should use URL rewrite technology + regex clauses

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/02/26/tip-trick-url-rewriting-with-asp-net.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms972974.aspx

Answer 3

Mod Rewrite. However, URL writing should be included in most frameworks, and I suggest you use those :)

Answer 4

The .NET 4 Framework is going to support Routes for WebForms (similar to the MVC Routing) Until then you should use the standard rewriting techniques.

Answer 5

You are talking about URL rewriting. I've used Madgeek RedirectModule, which reads rules from web.config and redirects/rewrites accordingly.

It's worth noting that you will need to configure IIS to send all requests through the .NET engine if you want to redirect or rewrite on folders or file extensions other than .aspx

You can find a comprehensive guide to URL rewriting here: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/02/26/tip-trick-url-rewriting-with-asp-net.aspx