Set Default Page in Asp.net

Question

Hi everyone,

Is there any section or code which allows us to set default page in web.config ?

For example, when people first visit my website, I want them to see CreateThing.aspx rather than Default.aspx.

The solutions I know :

1. Put this line of code => Response.Redirect("CreateThings.aspx") in Default.aspx Page_Load event but this method is really naive.

2. We can use IIS (default page configuration) but I wanna do the same thing over Asp.NET application.

If you know a better solution, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

P.S : The reason why I am asking Web.Config is I believe Web.Config would help us through this.

Edit: I am just wondering how Microsoft .NET team forgot such a simple thing :)

Edit :

This could be another solution for now :

 <defaultDocument>
            <files>
                <clear />
               <add value="Default.aspx" />
                <add value="Default.htm" />
                <add value="Default.asp" />
                <add value="index.htm" />
                <add value="index.html" />
                <add value="iisstart.htm" />
            </files>
  </defaultDocument>

Answer 1

Map default.aspx as HttpHandler route and redirect to CreateThings.aspx from within the HttpHandler.

<add verb="GET" path="default.aspx" type="RedirectHandler"/>

Make sure Default.aspx does not exists physically at your application root. If it exists physically the HttpHandler will not be given any chance to execute. Physical file overrides HttpHandler mapping.

Moreover you can re-use this for pages other than default.aspx.

<add verb="GET" path="index.aspx" type="RedirectHandler"/>

//RedirectHandler.cs in your App_Code

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

/// <summary>
/// Summary description for RedirectHandler
/// </summary>
public class RedirectHandler : IHttpHandler
{
    public RedirectHandler()
    {
        //
        // TODO: Add constructor logic here
        //
    }

    #region IHttpHandler Members

    public bool IsReusable
    {
        get { return true; }
    }

    public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
    {
        context.Response.Redirect("CreateThings.aspx");
        context.Response.End();
    }

    #endregion
}

Answer 2

If you are using forms authentication you could try the code below:

<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms name=".FORM" loginUrl="Login.aspx" defaultUrl="CreateThings.aspx" protection="All" timeout="30" path="/"> 
</forms>
</authentication>

Answer 3

If your using IIS 7 you can use

<system.webServer>
  <defaultDocument>
    <files>
      <clear />
      <add value="CreateThing.aspx" />
    </files>
  </defaultDocument>
</system.webServer>

http://www.iis.net/ConfigReference/system.webServer/defaultDocument