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

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:

  1. 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);
    }    
    
  2. 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...


Solution 1:

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

Solution 2:

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

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