ASP.NET core custom route constraint

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In this video we will discuss creating a custom route constraint in asp.net core.

We discussed built-in route constraints in our previous video. If these built-in route constraints do not meet your application requirements, you may create a custom route constraint.


Creating custom route constraint in asp.net core

To create a custom route constraint implement IRouteConstraint interface. This interface is in Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http namespace.

IRouteConstraint interface has just one method - Match() for which we have to provide implementation. This method returns true if the constraint is satisfied, otherwise false.

public interface IRouteConstraint : IParameterPolicy
{
            bool Match(HttpContext httpContext, IRouter route, string routeKey, 
                       RouteValueDictionary values, RouteDirection routeDirection);
}

IRouteConstraint Match() method parameters

Parameter	Description
httpContext	Contains information about the HTTP request
route	The router that this constraint belongs to
routeKey	Contains the name of the route parameter
values	A dictionary that contains the route parameter values
routeDirection	An object that indicates whether the constraint check is being performed when an incoming request is being handled or when a URL is being generated

Custom route constraint example

Let's say in our project we only want to allow even numbers as valid Employee ID values. We can't use any of the built-in route constraints to enforce this. One way to achieve this is, by creating a custom route constraint.

The following custom EvenConstraint returns true if the employee id value is even otherwise false.

public class EvenConstraint : IRouteConstraint
{
    public bool Match(HttpContext httpContext, IRouter route, string routeKey,
        RouteValueDictionary values, RouteDirection routeDirection)
    {
        int id;

        if (Int32.TryParse(values["id"].ToString(), out id))
        {
            if (id % 2 == 0)
            {
                return true;
            }
        }

        return false;
    }
}

Register custom constraint

To use the custom route constraint, it must be registered with our application's ConstraintMap dictionary. We do this in the ConfigureServices() method of the Startup class.

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.Configure<RouteOptions>(options =>
    {
        options.ConstraintMap.Add("even", typeof(EvenConstraint));
    });
}

Using custom route constraint

Once a custom route constraint is registered, it can then be used just like any built-in route constraint.

@page "/employees/view/{id:even}"