ASP.NET MVC Routes: How do I omit "index" from a URL

Question

I have a controller called "StuffController" with a parameterless Index action. I want this action to be called from a URL in the form mysite.com/stuff

My controller is defined as

public class StuffController : BaseController
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        // Return list of Stuff
    }
}

I added a custom route so the routes are defined like this:

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

    // Custom route to show index
    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "StuffList",
        url: "Stuff",
        defaults: new { controller = "Stuff", action = "Index" }
    );


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

}

But when I try to browse to mysite.com/stuff I get an error

HTTP Error 403.14 - Forbidden

The Web server is configured to not list the contents of this directory.

The URL mysite.com/stuff/index works fine. What I am doing wrong?

Answer 1

HTTP Error 403.14 - Forbidden The Web server is configured to not list the contents of this directory.

The error indicates that you have a virtual directory (probably a physical one) in your project called /Stuff. By default, IIS will first reach this directory and look for a default page (for example /index.html), and if no default page exists will attempt to list the contents of the directory (which requires a configuration setting).

This all happens before IIS passes the call to .NET routing, so having a directory with the name /Stuff is causing your application not to function correctly. You need to either delete the directory named /Stuff or use a different name for your route.

And as others have mentioned, the default route covers this scenario so there is no need for a custom route in this case.

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

    // Passing the URL `/Stuff` will match this route and cause it
    // to look for a controller named `StuffController` with action named `Index`.
    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "Default",
        url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
        defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
    );
}