CodeGuru content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
The ASP.NET Routing Framework allows developers to decouple the URL of a resource from the physical file on the web server. Specifically, the ASP.NET developer defines routing rules, which map URL patterns to a class or ASP.NET page that generates the content. For instance, you could create a URL pattern of the form Categories/CategoryName and map it to the ASP.NET page ShowCategoryDetails.aspx; the ShowCategoryDetails.aspx page would display details about the category CategoryName. With such a mapping, users could view category about the Beverages category by visiting www.yoursite.com/Categories/Beverages. In short, ASP.NET Routing allows for readable, SEO-friendly URLs.
ASP.NET Routing was first introduced in the ASP.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and was enhanced further in ASP.NET Framework 4.0. ASP.NET Routing is a key component of ASP.NET MVC, but can also be used with Web Forms. Two previous articles here on 4Guys showed how to get started using ASP.NET Routing: Using ASP.NET Routing Without ASP.NET MVC and URL Routing in ASP.NET 4.0.
This article aims to explore ASP.NET Routing in greater depth. We’ll explore how ASP.NET Routing works underneath the covers to decode a URL pattern and hand it off the the appropriate class or ASP.NET page. Read the entire article, Dissecting Routing using the ASP.NET Framework here.
