ASP.NET Custom directory browse handler

Question

I have a WebForms application running on IIS Express.

I'm using directoryBrowse=enabled to let users access parts of the file structure in order to download and open files. When I access a public directory on the website, a standard IIS directory listing page is displayed with the directory contents as usual.

I would like to register a custom handler specifically for directory browsing to control what is displayed and how when browsing directories. I know how to register a handler for a specific file or file type, however I don't know how to register a handler for a directory (ideally the same handler for any directory globally).

Answer 1

I have found an answer myself. Posting for any finders with similar questions.

It turns out that I can register a handler for path */:

<add name="directory-handler" type="DirectoryHandler" path="*/" verb="*"/>

The server will then use this handler for any request ending with '/', except existing pages through FriendlyUrls or valid configured routes, which means it will use this handler for any directories in the server file tree. Then I create a new IHttpHandler called DirectoryHandler:

public class DirectoryHandler : IHttpHandler
{
    public const string DirectoryBrowserPage = "/Browse/";
    public bool IsReusable { get { return true; } }

    public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
    {
        context.Response.Redirect(DirectoryBrowserPage + context.Request.Path);
    }
}

This will redirect any requests pointing to a directory to mypage.com/Browse/[Request.Path] Then, I register a new route in RouteConfig.cs:

 public static class RouteConfig
    {
        public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
        {
            //Conflicting routes must be defined before friendlyurls are 
            routes.Add("Browse", new Route("Browse/{*path}", new GenericRouteHandler("~/Browse.aspx")));

            var settings = new FriendlyUrlSettings();
            settings.AutoRedirectMode = RedirectMode.Permanent;
            routes.EnableFriendlyUrls(settings);
        }
    }

Implement GenericRouteHandler:

public class GenericRouteHandler : IRouteHandler
{

    public GenericRouteHandler(string virtualPath)
    {
        this.VirtualPath = virtualPath;
    }

    public string VirtualPath { get; private set; }

    public IHttpHandler GetHttpHandler(RequestContext requestContext)
    {
        var page = BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(VirtualPath, typeof(Page)) as IHttpHandler;
        foreach (var urlParm in requestContext.RouteData.Values)
        {
            requestContext.HttpContext.Items[urlParm.Key] = urlParm.Value;
        }
        return page;
    }

}

Finally, I create the Browse page itself, where I can access the requested directory path via:

string path = HttpContext.Current.Items["path"] as string;

The rest is then just a matter of manually creating the views, permissions and behavior in the Browse page.