ASP.NET Core 2.1 Areas routing not working

Question

I have this folder structure for my new Area

This is how I set it up in my startup:

app.UseMvc(routes =>
{
    routes.MapRoute(
        name: "default",
        template: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");

    routes.MapRoute(
      name: "areas",
      template: "{area:exists}/{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}"
    );
});

This is how I created my basecontroller

namespace App.Areas.Applications.Controllers
{
    [Area("Applications")]
    [Authorize]
    public abstract class ApplicationsBaseController : Controller
    {

    }
}

My ApplicationsController then inherits the BaseController

However, when I set a link like this

<li class="nav-item"><a asp-area="Applications" asp-controller="Applications" asp-action="Index" class="nav-link">Applications</a></li>

This is the link that shows up in my url https://localhost:44338/Applications?area=Applications and I get a page cannot be found.

What did I miss when setting up my Area?

EDIT:

When I add [Route("Applications/[controller]")] after my [Area("Applications")], I get this error

An unhandled exception occurred while processing the request. AmbiguousActionException: Multiple actions matched. The following actions matched route data and had all constraints satisfied:

App.Areas.Applications.Controllers.ApplicationsController.Index (App) App.Areas.Applications.Controllers.ApplicationsController.Create (App) App.Areas.Applications.Controllers.ApplicationsController.NewRole (App)

have a look at: https://stackoverflow.com/a/36535512/7124761 — Prashant Pimpale, Sep 30 '18 at 05:07
As I checked your error its clearly says that the action name is an Ambiguous, Post your all action methods in the question or check for the same — Prashant Pimpale, Sep 30 '18 at 05:17
I think I found out why but I'm not sure I know how to solve it. This expects my Views to be in a Views/Applications folder. But my views are located in just Views. How can I change that? — JianYA, Sep 30 '18 at 05:18
This will help -> https://stackoverflow.com/q/40795673/7124761 — Prashant Pimpale, Sep 30 '18 at 05:18
This expects my Views to be in a Views/Applications folder. But my views are located in just Views. How can I change that?--- > `Create new folder under Views folder callled Application and move application controller views into this` — Prashant Pimpale, Sep 30 '18 at 05:20
No I mean I want my views to just be left in Views and not me needing to create a folder because then the structure doesnt make sense? Applications/Views/Applications/Index.cshtml — JianYA, Sep 30 '18 at 05:22

rykamol · Answer 1 · 2018-09-30T09:57:46.810

12

Put it before the default route... like this

app.UseMvc(routes =>
{
 routes.MapRoute(
  name: "areas",
  template: "{area:exists}/{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}"
);

routes.MapRoute(
    name: "default",
    template: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
});

edited Sep 30 '18 at 09:57

answered Sep 30 '18 at 05:16

rykamol

1,097
1
10
19

This is such an obscure information. This deserves more votes. – ShadowKras Oct 20 '21 at 23:30

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 02 '18 at 03:25

IMO, you should create Controller folder to the specific views. Otherwise, it will fail when there are multiple controllers in the Applications area.

Anyway, for returning the views just in Views Folder, try to configure the AreaViewLocationFormats to specify the views search location.

        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        //rest services
        services.AddMvc().SetCompatibilityVersion(CompatibilityVersion.Version_2_1).AddSessionStateTempDataProvider();
        services.Configure<RazorViewEngineOptions>(o =>
        {
            o.AreaViewLocationFormats.Add("/Areas/{2}/{0}" + RazorViewEngine.ViewExtension);
        });
    }

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 04 '19 at 14:20

0

I realized what the issue was. In each controller, I needed to declare [Area="AreaName"] in the top before anything else so that the routing worked.

Thank you everyone for your help.

answered Jul 04 '19 at 14:20

JianYA

2,750
8
60
136

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 20 '19 at 08:55

There is another option which does bring some clarification in terms of meta data of the code:

Using MapAreaRoute extension method in Namespace: Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder

Here is an example:

          routes.MapAreaRoute(
                name: "AdminArea",
                areaName: "Admin",
                template: Admin/{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");

It is available from .NET Core 1.0

Microsoft documentation

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 11 '21 at 12:39

you can use simple solation

Extension

public static class AreaExtension
{
    public static string AreaUrl(this IHtmlHelper helper, string action,  params string[] parameters)
    {
        var viewContext = helper.ViewContext.RouteData.Values;

        string controller = (string)viewContext["controller"],
         area = (string)viewContext["area"];
        return GenerateUrl(action, controller, area, parameters);
    }

    public static string AreaUrl(this IHtmlHelper helper, string action, string controller, params string[] parameters)
    {
        var viewContext = helper.ViewContext.RouteData.Values;

        string area = (string)viewContext["area"];
        return GenerateUrl(action, controller, area, parameters);
    }

    public static string AreaUrl(this IHtmlHelper helper, string action, string controller, string area, params string[] parameters)
        => GenerateUrl(action, controller, area, parameters);

    private static string GenerateUrl(string action, string controller, string area, params string[] parameters)
    {
        if (action == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(controller));
        if (controller == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(action));

        string urlParams = string.Empty;

        if (parameters != null && parameters.Length > 0)
            urlParams = "?" + string.Join("&", parameters);

        return "/" + string.Join("/", area, controller, action) + urlParams;
    }
}

Usage

Incluse namespase AreaExtension in _ViewImports.cshtml

<li class="nav-item"><a href="@Html.AreaUrl("Index", "Applications","Applications")" class="nav-link">Applications</a></li>

This AreaExtension have 3 overload

ASP.NET Core 2.1 Areas routing not working

5 Answers5