New to the .Net Framework 3.5 SP 1 is the System.Web.Routing namespace. The classes in the routing namespace allow you to use urls that do not map to a web page.
For this example I created a new web application. To start off with lets add a reference to the system.web.routing and system.web.abstractions. Open up the web.config file and lets add the UrlRoutingModule to the httpmodules section
<httpModules>
<add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
<add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
</httpModules>
Next we need to add a WebFormRouteHandler class which will be our route handler.
Imports System.Web.Routing
Imports System.Web.Compilation
Public Class WebFormRouteHandler
Implements IRouteHandler
Private _Path As String
Public Property Path() As String
Get
Return _Path
End Get
Set(ByVal value As String)
_Path = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub New(ByVal p As String)
Path = p
End Sub
Public Function GetHttpHandler(ByVal requestContext As System.Web.Routing.RequestContext) As System.Web.IHttpHandler Implements System.Web.Routing.IRouteHandler.GetHttpHandler
For Each value In requestContext.RouteData.Values
requestContext.HttpContext.Items(value.Key) = value.Value
Next
If Not String.IsNullOrEmpty(Path) Then
Return TryCast(BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(Path, GetType(Page)), IHttpHandler)
Else
Return Nothing
End If
End Function
End Class
Finally we have to add global.asax so we can start the routing when the web site starts up
Imports System.Web.SessionState
Imports System.Web.Routing
Public Class Global_asax
Inherits System.Web.HttpApplication
Sub Application_Start(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires when the application is started.
Dim userHandler As New WebFormRouteHandler("~/user.aspx")
With RouteTable.Routes
' pattern of the url to match
.Add(New Route("user/{user}", userHandler))
End With
End Sub
Sub Session_Start(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires when the session is started
End Sub
Sub Application_BeginRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires at the beginning of each request
End Sub
Sub Application_AuthenticateRequest(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires upon attempting to authenticate the use
End Sub
Sub Application_Error(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires when an error occurs
End Sub
Sub Session_End(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires when the session ends
End Sub
Sub Application_End(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
' Fires when the application ends
End Sub
End Class
Finally we need 2 web pages
Default.aspx
<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="Default.aspx.vb" Inherits="RoutingTest._Default" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<h1>ASP.NET System.Web.Routing with WebForms sample</h1>
<div><a href="user/ken">User test</a></div>
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>
user.aspx
<%@ Page Language="vb" AutoEventWireup="false" CodeBehind="User.aspx.vb" Inherits="RoutingTest.User" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" >
<head runat="server">
<title></title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<div>
<h1>
Users</h1>
<div>
User:
<%=Context.Items("user")%></div>
<hr />
<div>
Change the user in the URL.</div>
<div>
The WebFormRouteHandler adds the matched values to the HTTPContext.Items collection
(exists for lifetime of request only).</div>
</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>
Hope this helps