IIS pipeline: what goes first: URL Rewrite or HttpHandler?

Question

What happens first in the pipeline: a URL Rewrite (as defined in the URL Rewrite module of IIS), or a HttpHandler (added with the add managed handler functionality of IIS7)?

Answer 1

The rewrite module goes first. It intercepts the request before any handler is selected for it and rewrites the URL so that the handler can be selected based on the new URL.