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c#asp.netroutesasp.net-web-apiasp.net-mvc-routing

WebAPI route 404's when there is a trailing space in the URL

With the default web api route

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "API Default",
            routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
            defaults: new
                      {
                          id = RouteParameter.Optional
                      }
            );

and a controller 

public class TestController : ApiController
{
    [HttpGet]
    public HttpResponseMessage Get(string id)
    {
        return Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, id);
    }
}

A request to 'api/test/1'

returns 1

If for some reason you send a request to 'api/test/1%20'

the route 404's.

Now this example may seem silly since browsers trim trailing spaces, but

for a route like 'api/{controller}/{id}/{extrastuff}'

the space in '1 ' would convert to '1%20' and the request will 404 on the route not being found.

Solution

  • Your issue has nothing to do with WebAPI itself but how Asp.Net handles some specific urls. And Asp.Net handles these urls in a very paranoid way, so you need to tell it to relax.

    Add this line to your web.config under system.web:

    <httpRuntime relaxedUrlToFileSystemMapping="true" />

    You can read more about this topic:

    Also on SO: