HTTP Handler not being invoked

Question

I have a custom HTTP Handler that properly implements IHttpHandler. Below is what I've configured in my webConfig. If I understand correctly this block should capture any requests with .test as the extension.

<handlers> 
    <add name="SampleHandler" verb="*" path="*.test" 
     type="TestApp.App_Start.CustomHandler, TestApp" />
</handlers>

However, the only time this handler is ever invoked is when I have a path depth of three applied to the request URL. All other requests will 404.

For instance the handler works correctly when the path is:

localhost:XXX\some\fake\path\file.test

But not for:

localhost:XXX\some\file.test

I am using ASP.NET MVC 5, and suspect it has something to do with the routing. I also am using the sample project provided in VS2013 so besides a handler being added to the project I really haven't done anything else.

Update:

I've determined the default route is interfering.

  routes.MapRoute(
                name: "Default",
                url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
                defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
            );

Is there way to get it working even with this route configured?

Answer 1

It looks like the routing was interfering with the handler. In order to allow the handler to recieve the request I needed to call IgnoreRoute method against the current RouteCollection ignoring any routes with .test in them:

Inside the RouteConfig class

  public class RouteConfig
    {
        public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
        {
            routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
            routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.test/");

            routes.MapRoute(
                name: "Default",
                url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
                defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
            );
        }
    }

It works now. Is there a better way to do this?