Dot character '.' in MVC Web API 2 for request such as api/people/STAFF.45287

Asked 8/1, 2014 at 14:47 Answered 6/11, 2019 at 10:38

Solved c#asp.net-mvc-4 asp.net-web-api asp.net-mvc-routing asp.net-web-api2

119

The URL I'm trying to let work is one in the style of: http://somedomain.com/api/people/staff.33311 (just like sites as LAST.FM allow all sort of signs in their RESTFul & WebPage urls, for example "http://www.last.fm/artist/psy'aviah" is a valid url for LAST.FM).

What works are following scenarios: - http://somedomain.com/api/people/ - which returns all people - http://somedomain.com/api/people/staff33311 - would work as well, but it's not what I'm after I'd want the url to accept a "dot", like the example below - http://somedomain.com/api/people/staff.33311 - but this gives me a

HTTP Error 404.0 - Not Found
The resource you are looking for has been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.

I've set up following things:

The controller "PeopleController"

public IEnumerable<Person> GetAllPeople()
{
    return _people;
}

public IHttpActionResult GetPerson(string id)
{
    var person = _people.FirstOrDefault(p => p.Id.ToLower().Equals(id.ToLower()));
    if (person == null)
        return NotFound();

    return Ok(person);
}

The WebApiConfig.cs

public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
{
    // Web API configuration and services

    // Web API routes
    config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

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

I already tried following all the tips of this blogpost http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ExperimentsInWackinessAllowingPercentsAnglebracketsAndOtherNaughtyThingsInTheASPNETIISRequestURL.aspx but it still won't work.. I also think it's quite tedious and I wonder if there isn't another, better and more secure way.

We have our Id's internally like this, so we're going to have to find a solution to fit the dot in one way or another, preferably in the style of "." but I'm open to alternative suggestions for urls if need be...

Ximenes answered 8/1, 2014 at 14:47 Comment(2)

Not an answer, but as to why your're getting a 404 for somedomain.com/api/people/staff.33311 - by default, IIS looks at this URL and sees the . as a file extension and invokes the static file handler, bypassing your MVC API. The answer you accepted (running all managed modules for all requests) works because you force every request to IIS to go through the ASP.NET pipeline (therefore, your controllers) – Daisie 15/1, 2015 at 16:15

Closely related post here. – Nowak 19/10, 2017 at 2:19

116

Following setting in your web.config file should fix your issue:

<configuration>
    <system.webServer>
        <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" />

Christo answered 8/1, 2014 at 15:47 Comment(14)

I will try this out asap when I'm back at the office – Ximenes 8/1, 2014 at 20:6

It did the trick. Though, are there any vulnerabilities by setting this option? Why isn't this the standard behaviour? – Ximenes 9/1, 2014 at 6:59

Ok, for anyone's interest: I see my question above being answered here on the accepted answer at the time of writing (answer by Kapil Khandelwal): #11049363 – Ximenes 9/1, 2014 at 7:3

Yes, it worked, bus others, I would like to know which particular module is required for this functionality to work? – Dissolve 17/3, 2014 at 20:36

When I tried this, it would only work if I put a '/' at the end of the path. Any suggestions why this is? On a side note, the answer below that specifically adds the 'UrlRoutingModule' instead of running all modules, also worked for me, although still with the issue that it requires a '/' at the end to work. – Altitude 5/8, 2014 at 23:43

I don't need to add the "/" character for it to work.. Website's running under Windows Server 2008 R2 with IIS 7.5 – Ximenes 27/8, 2014 at 9:7

https://mcmap.net/q/98824/-dots-in-url-causes-404-with-asp-net-mvc-and-iis is worth looking at if you are concerned (and rightfully so) about the performance impact of enabling runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests. – Daisie 15/1, 2015 at 16:19

@KiranChalla: Does this work when the app runs under classic mode? It doesn't seem so in my case. – Shing 21/6, 2016 at 20:27

That solved my issue. I was trying to pass an android app ID via the RESTFul api (br.com.google) and it was not working. Thanks ! – Salubrious 30/6, 2016 at 20:36

HTTP Error 500.19 - Internal Server Error The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid. – Stansbury 15/12, 2016 at 12:34

This should work, but it is a bit overkill. It should be ok for WEB API because you should not have any static resources, but I would not use it for MVC. – Incunabulum 6/11, 2017 at 8:17

Thank you. This also works for @ at-sign character in route. – Pettit 19/6, 2018 at 8:25

I also had to add a new attribute in web.config system.web/httpRuntime: relaxedUrlToFileSystemMapping="true" – Printmaking 18/4, 2019 at 8:1

This worked AND ALSO fixed an issue where the Swagger page "Can't read swagger JSON from https://[MACHINE:PORT]/swagger/docs/v1.1" My assumption is that the v.1.1 in the URL was succumbing to the same issue. – Withal 5/12, 2022 at 22:52

151

Suffix the URL with a slash e.g. http://somedomain.com/api/people/staff.33311/ instead of http://somedomain.com/api/people/staff.33311.

Om answered 28/7, 2015 at 12:57 Comment(10)

@AgustinMeriles my answer could be considered more of a workaround than an actual answer, depends on your interpretation of the question. – Om 17/10, 2015 at 13:12

That does not work though when the dot is at the end of the URL section as in /people/member. – Biflagellate 23/10, 2015 at 13:18

If the input isn't simple, perhaps an odata style query suffix is more suitable that a rest URL. – Om 23/10, 2015 at 19:10

No, what if I don't want a slash at the end?! It should not be required. – Madelenemadelin 6/1, 2016 at 18:15

@JoshM. This is a workaround, I didn't write ASP.NET. Also, the slash doesn't affect the request. It does, however, help make your intentions more clear as in google.com/my query goes here/ vs. google.com/subDomain my query goes here. – Om 6/1, 2016 at 18:34

This is best answer. No need to change in web.config. Upvote – Brenan 28/10, 2016 at 10:45

Really love this answer. After spending a day looking at a variety of routing options in WebApi, this solution just is so simple, it is beautiful. – Kimberleekimberley 12/7, 2017 at 4:47

@JoshM. - it's not ideal, yes. What i did was just add an 'endpoint' to the url, so instead of something like analytes/method/2008.(w)/ i have analytes/method/2008.(w)/detail. That way requests with a dot in them still work and i don't have that trailing slash hanging out like it doesn't belong. Hope that helps someone. – Muddleheaded 18/9, 2017 at 19:45

Yes this is the best you shouldn't have to modify the web.config. – Rockey 18/12, 2017 at 4:41

it doesn't work for me. Maybe some breaking changes in WebAPI – Stiff 12/3, 2019 at 10:56

116

Following setting in your web.config file should fix your issue:

<configuration>
    <system.webServer>
        <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" />