Why can't ASP.NET MVC URL routing find my controller?

Question

In my Global.asax.cs file in RegisterRoutes method, I put

routes.MapRoute("messages", 
    "Message/{id}", 
    new { controller = "Archive", action = "Message", id = 0 });

Then I created this controller:

namespace TestingApp.Controllers
{
    public class ArchiveController : Controller
    {
        public string Message(int id)
        {
            return "testing: you will receive the message: " + id.ToString();
        }
    }
}

But in my browsser when I go to:

http://.../Message/34

I get a 404.

What else do I need to define so that the routing finds my controller?

Answer 1

Try defining your specific route before the Default one:

routes.MapRoute(
    "messages",
    "Message/{id}",
    new { controller = "Archive", action = "Message", id = 0 });

routes.MapRoute(
    "Default",
    "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
    new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = "" });

Answer 2

I think your Message method should return an ActionResult instance:

public ActionResult Message(int id)
{
    return new ContentResult {
        Content = "testing: you will receive the message: " + id.ToString()
    };
}