With MVC3, how can I change the controller/action

Question

I have an application that is going to act as a "catch-all" for requests that could be coming from a variety of targets. I would like to be able to redirect to a different controller/action in my application based on the value of the "accept" header.

Clarification: I would like to do this without an HTTP Handler, if possible.

Answer 1

make a route.. just a simple class and derive it from RouteBase here you will find the method GetRouteData(System.Web.HttpContextBase httpContext) with return type of RouteData u can pick out the headers of your choice from the httpcontext and add the values of ur route to the return value of the function..

Answer 2

you can use Phil haack Route Magic plugin it has HttpHandler Routing but it use HttpHandler you can take a look , see if you like it

Route Magic

Answer 3

You could write a custom route:

public class MyRoute : Route
{
    public MyRoute(string url, object defaults)
        : base(url, new RouteValueDictionary(defaults), new MvcRouteHandler())
    {

    }

    public override RouteData GetRouteData(HttpContextBase httpContext)
    {
        var rd = base.GetRouteData(httpContext);
        if (rd == null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        var accept = httpContext.Request.Headers["Accept"];
        if (string.Equals("xml", accept, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            rd.Values["action"] = "xml";
        }
        else if (string.Equals("json", accept, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            rd.Values["action"] = "json";
        }
        return rd;
    }
}

and then register this route:

public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
    routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

    routes.Add(
        "Default", 
        new MyRoute(
            "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
            new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
        )
    );
}

Now when you POST to /home and set the Accept request header to xml the Xml action of the Home controller will be hit.