Routes registration in ASP MVC for a simple Library Application

Question

I would like to create a web site using ASP MVC with the following URLs:

/libraries                      ## displays a list of libraries
/libraries?pageIndex=1          ## a list of libraries with pagination
/libraries/1                    ## the library with ID == 1
/libraries/1/books              ## a list of books in the library 1
/libraries/1/books?pageIndex=0  ## a paged list of books in the library 1
/libraries/1/books/2            ## the book with ID == 2 in the library 1
/libraries/1/books/2/edit       ## edit page for the book 2 in the library 1

What is the best way for the RouteCollections and Controllers registration?

Answer 1

I have just found a great article that answers all my questions, hope it could be helpful for somebody else :)

Customizing Routes in ASP.NET MVC

Answer 2

You'd probably have two routes with the following patterns:

{controller}/{parentId}/{item}/{id}/{action}

Where:

• {action} is optional and defaults to index;
• {id} is optional

{controller}/{parentId}

Where:

• {parentId} is optional

Your RouteConfig.cs file could look something like this:

    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "libraryDetail",
        url: "{controller}/{parentId}/{item}/{id}/{action}",
        defaults: new { controller = "Libraries", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional });

    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "libraries",
        url: "{controller}/{parentId}",
        defaults: new { controller = "Libraries", action = "List", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
    );