How do you debug MVC 4 API routes?

Question

I have a WP7 game that uses RESTsharp to communicate with my MVC4 RESTful server, but I often have issues making requests that work and therefore I want to debug where it fails.

This is an example where the Constructor on my GameController is hit, but the Post method is not hit, and I don't understand why.

Client code:

public void JoinRandomGame()
{
  client = new RestClient
  {
      CookieContainer = new CookieContainer(),
      BaseUrl = "http://localhost:21688/api/",
  };

  client.Authenticator = GetAuth();

  RestRequest request = new RestRequest(Method.POST)
  {
      RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json,
      Resource = "game/"

  };

  client.PostAsync(request, (response, ds) =>
  {});
}

Server code:

    public void Post(int id)
    {
        if (ControllerContext.Request.Headers.Authorization == null)
        {
            //No auth
        }
        if (!loginManager.VerifyLogin(ControllerContext.Request.Headers.Authorization.Parameter))
        {
            //Failed login
        }

        string username;
        string password;
        LoginManager.DecodeBase64(ControllerContext.Request.Headers.Authorization.Parameter, out username, out password);
        gameManager.JoinRandomGame(username);
    }

My routes are like this

       routes.MapHttpRoute(
            name: "gameAPI",
            routeTemplate: "api/game/{gameId}",
            defaults: new
            {
                controller = "game",
                gameId = RouteParameter.Optional
            }             
        );

I cant see the debugger information when I access my RESTful service through a WP7 emulator? — Mech0z
– Mech0z, Commented Jul 13, 2012 at 15:27

Maria Ines Parnisari · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-21 04:26:34Z

121

Another way is to add an event handler in Global.asax.cs to pick up the incoming request and then look at the route values in the VS debugger. Override the Init method as follows:

public override void Init()
{
    base.Init();
    this.AcquireRequestState += showRouteValues;
}

protected void showRouteValues(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var context = HttpContext.Current;
    if (context == null)
        return;
    var routeData = RouteTable.Routes.GetRouteData(new HttpContextWrapper(context)); 
}

Then set a breakpoint in showRouteValues and look at the contents of routeData.

Keep in mind that in a Web API project, the Http routes are in WebApiConfig.cs, not RouteConfig.cs.

edited Apr 21, 2017 at 4:26

Maria Ines Parnisari

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answered Aug 23, 2014 at 21:25

Paul Evans

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4 Comments

Katie Kilian Over a year ago

Quick and dirty, just what I needed!

Maria Ines Parnisari Over a year ago

This doesn't scale to a solution with dozens/hundreds of controllers.

zwcloud Over a year ago

Where is this in aspnet6?

Paul Evans Sep 27 at 15:41

In .Net 8, we inserted a piece of middleware into the application pipeline before app.MapControllerRoute. In the middleware, you have access to HttpContext and can do something similar. There are online examples that show how to insert your own middleware.

Paul Fleming · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-13 16:44:54Z

37

RouteDebugger is good for figuring out which routes will/will not be hit.

http://nuget.org/packages/routedebugger

answered Jul 13, 2012 at 16:44

Paul Fleming

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5 Comments

Mech0z Over a year ago

Already proposed in comments above, but I cant see how that should tell me where it goes wrong? gratisimage.dk/graphic/images/2012/July/13/C044_50005206.jpg this is what I get with that and loookign at api/game/{gameId} controller = game, gameId = the stuff I did should work?

Paul Fleming Over a year ago

According to your screenshot, gameId is not optional. Try including gameId and see if it hits your route...

Paul Fleming Over a year ago

Note also that your Post action cannot accept an optional gameId. Consider either making it mandatory or making the parameter nullable (int? gameId) or setting a default value (int gameId = 0).

Paul Fleming Over a year ago

Rename your post parameter to gameId.

Mech0z Over a year ago

That dont do anything (I only renamed it because I tried removing the parameter (I dont use it, was only added to try to get it to hit the method))

Troy Dai · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-04 08:26:07Z

1

You can try ASP.NET Web API Route Debugger. It is written for Web Api. https://trocolate.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/introducing-asp-net-web-api-route-debugger/ http://nuget.org/packages/WebApiRouteDebugger/

answered Mar 4, 2013 at 8:26

Troy Dai

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4 Comments

Tim Murphy Over a year ago

Note this package is for c#. Does not seem to support vb.net.

RapPayne Over a year ago

Tried this. Did not work for my ASP.NET MVC 5 project with Web API added on. Then I completely messed up my project when I uninstalled it due to its many dependencies. Consider it install-only.

Dai Over a year ago

It messed-up even my Web API 2 project - why does a debugging tool need to add Razor, Twitter Bootstrap and other add-ons to a strictly JSON webservice? Phil Haack's tool is better, and very minimal.

stannius Over a year ago

I accidentally installed the package for the wrong project (just a dll library project), which couldn't have had routes debugged anyways. So I had twice as much leftover junk to clean up after I found it didn't work with MVC 5.

Andree · Accepted Answer · 2014-10-16 08:58:41Z

1

There are more possibilities for testing the routes. You can try either manual testing or automated as part of unit tests. Manual testing:

Automated testing:

MvcRouteTester.

answered Oct 16, 2014 at 8:58

Andree

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Comments

Michal Franc · Accepted Answer · 2012-07-13 16:41:41Z

0

Is GameController deriving from ApiController ? Are you using WebApi ?

If not then i think the "/api/" is reserved for new WebApi feature. Try changing your routing and controller name to "gameapi"

If however you are using WebApi.

Then remove api from yor BaseUrl

  client = new RestClient
  {
      CookieContainer = new CookieContainer(),
      BaseUrl = "http://localhost:21688/",
  };

answered Jul 13, 2012 at 16:41

Michal Franc

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5 Comments

Mech0z Over a year ago

Yes I have it working, but its just when I have some that dont work I cant figure out a good way to do it but my controller is like this pastebin.com/qki60LyU

Michal Franc Over a year ago

Then you can use RouteDebugger from "flem s" link it's the same thing from my link :) Just run it on your page that is used by WP7, do it in the browser. Also you can think about installing Elmah - nuget.org/packages/elmah

Mech0z Over a year ago

That just gives me an XML file (Therefor now information from routedebugger) and also when I run it I hit my Get and not my Post (Which works fine)

Michal Franc Over a year ago

is your Post action decorated by [HttpPost] attribute ?

Mech0z Over a year ago

No pastebin.com/qki60LyU havent been necessary before, and my Get requests work and I just tried using it but no dice

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