Using the ASP.NET MVC ActionName attribute

Dave

Through convention in ASP.NET MVC the name of the controller and action forms part of the URL. Taking the example below

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    [HttpGet]
    public ActionResult TermsOfUse()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

The URL mydomain.com/home/termsofuse will display the view named TermsOfUse.cshtml from the Views/Home folder. **If using Visual Basic the view name will be TermsOfUse.vbhtml

Adding the ActionName attribute to the Action will change the name of the action to terms-of-use.

[HttpGet]
[ActionName("terms-of-use")]
public ActionResult TermsOfUse()
{
    return View();
}

So mydomain.com/home/termsofuse will not longer work but mydomain.com/home/terms-of-use will work.

Remember to rename your view to match the new action name as the view engine will now be looking for a view called terms-of-use.cshtml, instead of termsofuse.cshtml. The alternative to not renaming the views is to explicitly pass the physical name of the view in to the View method

return View("TermsOfUse");

This would need to be done not only in this action but every time the view needs to be displayed.

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