Why do I get this AmbiguousMatchException?

Question

I am writing a simple .NET 7 web application that will respond to any GET request by serving the same Razor page. This is my Program.cs:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();
app.UseRouting();
app.UseAuthorization();
app.MapRazorPages();
app.MapFallbackToPage("/Index");
app.Run();

A request to https://localhost:7024/ returns my Razor page as expected. However, a request to https://localhost:7024/anythingelse throws an exception:

Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.AmbiguousMatchException: The request matched multiple endpoints. Matches:

/Index
/Index

at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DefaultEndpointSelector.ReportAmbiguity(CandidateState[] candidateState) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DefaultEndpointSelector.ProcessFinalCandidates(HttpContext httpContext, CandidateState[] candidateState) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DefaultEndpointSelector.SelectAsync(HttpContext httpContext, CandidateSet candidateSet) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.Matching.DfaMatcher.SelectEndpointWithPoliciesAsync(HttpContext httpContext, IEndpointSelectorPolicy[] policies, CandidateSet candidateSet) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing.EndpointRoutingMiddleware.g__AwaitMatch|8_1(EndpointRoutingMiddleware middleware, HttpContext httpContext, Task matchTask) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.AuthenticationMiddleware.Invoke(HttpContext context) at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Diagnostics.DeveloperExceptionPageMiddlewareImpl.Invoke(HttpContext context)

Answer 1

My initial answer did not address your question: "Why do I get this...?" It just provided how to resolve the AmbiguousMatchException error. Here's an explanation of why this error occurs, along with a code sample that shows what's happening.

ASP.NET Core is creating multiple routes for /Index: 1. for the Razor Page with the file name Index.cshtml; and 2. for the root URL of the web app (or https://localhost:7024/ in your question).

Navigating to https://localhost:7024/ or https://localhost:7024/index works because these two route patterns have a clear match.

When app.MapFallbackToPage("/Index"); is set in program.cs, with the first parameter set to the page name: /Index, the request is routed to the page endpoint /Index. The ambiguous exception occurs because there are two routes that match the endpoint for /Index.

Add a catch-all route template

Adding a catch-all route template (i.e. starting a route template with an asterik * followed by any word) as @Mike added in his answer, removes ambiguity.

@page "{*anyword}"

The catch-all route pattern, the second list item in the image below, matches https://localhost:7024/anythingelse.

Using a catch-all route pattern, however, in the @page directive in the Index.cshtml file in the root folder makes app.MapFallbackToPage("/Index"); redundant. All request paths will be processed by the catch-all route pattern.

Add "/Index" template

Add "/Index" to the @page directive in the main index page also removes ambiguity. Only one endpoint to /Index is registered.

@page "/Index"
@model WebApplication1.Pages.IndexModel
@{
}
<h1>Welcome</h1>

EndpointDataList code sample

The following code sample was used generate the image results above. Replace the first line in Index.cshtml, that is, the @page directive with any of the following to get the output of the images above, in order:

@page
@page "{*anyword}"
@page "/Index"

Index.cshtml

@page "/Index"
@model WebApplication1.Pages.IndexModel
<table class="table">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Display Name</th>
            <th>Route Pattern</th>
            <th>Url</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
        @foreach (EndpointData endpointData in @Model.EndpointDataList)
        {
            <tr>
                <td>@endpointData.DisplayName</td>
                <td>@endpointData.RoutePattern</td>
                <td>@endpointData.URL</td>
            </tr>
        }
    </tbody>
</table>

Index.cshtml.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.RazorPages;

namespace WebApplication1.Pages
{
    public class IndexModel : PageModel
    {
        private readonly IEnumerable<EndpointDataSource> _endpointSources;
        public IndexModel(
            IEnumerable<EndpointDataSource> endpointDataSources)
        {
            _endpointSources = endpointDataSources;
        }

        public IEnumerable<RouteEndpoint> EndpointSources { get; set; }
        public List<EndpointData> EndpointDataList { get; set; }

        public void OnGet()
        {
            EndpointSources = _endpointSources
                        .SelectMany(es => es.Endpoints)
                        .OfType<RouteEndpoint>();

            EndpointDataList = new List<EndpointData>();

            foreach (RouteEndpoint routeEndpoint in EndpointSources)
            {
                // If the route pattern is an empty string then
                // it represents the home page. The home page is
                // represented by the route pattern '/Index'.

                EndpointData pageData = new()
                {
                    DisplayName = routeEndpoint.DisplayName,
                    RoutePattern = routeEndpoint.RoutePattern.RawText,
                    URL = routeEndpoint.ToString()
                };
                EndpointDataList.Add(pageData);
            }
        }
    }

    public class EndpointData
    {
        public string DisplayName { get; set; }
        public string RoutePattern { get; set; }
        public string URL { get; set; }
    }
}

Program.cs

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();
app.UseRouting();
app.UseAuthorization();
app.MapRazorPages();
app.MapFallbackToPage("/Index");
app.Run();