Configure webapi2 route to support different kind of GET requests (action/id)

Question

I would like to be able to support those URLs:

// GET:  api/Users              returns a list (all)
// GET:  api/Users/5            returns the user with Id 5
// GET:  api/Users/Active       returns a list (only those not soft-deleted)
// POST: api/Users              creates a user

I have first tried to configure it this way:

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

But then I could not support the api/Users/Active request

So I tried to configure it this way:

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

But then I can not support the api/Users/5 request

Is it possible to support both?

Answer 1

Register multiple routes.

You can also provide constraints, which restrict how a URI segment can match a placeholder:

constraints: new { id = @"\d+" }   // Only matches if "id" is one or more digits.

Example

// GET:  api/Users              returns a list (all)
// GET:  api/Users/5            returns the user with Id 5
// POST: api/Users              creates a user
config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "Api",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional },
    constraints: new { id = @"\d+" }
);

// GET:  api/Users/Active       returns a list (only those not soft-deleted)
config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "DefaultApi",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{action}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);

Or enable attribute routing.

public static class WebApiConfig {
    public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config) {
        // Attribute routing.
        config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

        // Convention-based routing.
        config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "DefaultApi",
            routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
            defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
        );
    }
}

Controller

[RoutePrefix("api/users")]
public class UsersController : ApiController {
    // GET:  api/Users              returns a list (all)
    [HttpGet]
    [Route("")] 
    public IHttpActionResult Get() { ... }
    // GET:  api/Users/5            returns the user with Id 5
    [HttpGet]
    [Route("{id:int}")] 
    public IHttpActionResult Get(int id) { ... }
    // GET:  api/Users/Active       returns a list (only those not soft-deleted)
    [HttpGet]
    [Route("Active")] 
    public IHttpActionResult Active() { ... }
    // POST: api/Users              creates a user
    [HttpPost]
    [Route("")] 
    public IHttpActionResult Post(User user) { ... }
}