Can I get the controller from the HttpContext?

Question

Given an HttpContext (or HttpContextBase), is there a way to get an instance of the Controller?

Answer 1

For those looking just to get the controller name and not an actual instance, as is needed for custom authorization overrides of AuthorizeCore(httpContext), this is the clean code.

var request = httpContext.Request; var currentUser = httpContext.User.Identity.Name; string controller = request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString(); string action = request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values["action"].ToString(); 

Answer 2

The HttpContext will hold a reference to the MvcHandler, which will hold a reference to the RouteData, which will hold a reference to what controller is being invoked by a particular route.

NB: This doesn't give you the actual controller, only the controller that the specific route is going to catch.

GetController(HttpContextBase httpContext) {     var routeData = ((MvcHandler)httpContext.Handler).RequestContext.RouteData;      var routeValues = routeData.Values;     var matchedRouteBase = routeData.Route;     var matchedRoute = matchedRouteBase as Route;      if (matchedRoute != null)     {         Route = matchedRoute.Url ?? string.Empty;     }      AssignRouteValues(httpContext, routeValues); } protected virtual VirtualPathData getVirtualPathData(HttpContextBase httpContext, RouteValueDictionary routeValues) {     return RouteTable.Routes.GetVirtualPath(((MvcHandler)httpContext.Handler).RequestContext, routeValues); }  private void AssignRouteValues(HttpContextBase httpContext, RouteValueDictionary routeValues) {     var virtualPathData = getVirtualPathData(httpContext, routeValues);      if (virtualPathData != null)     {         var vpdRoute = virtualPathData.Route as Route;         if (vpdRoute != null)         {             RouteDefaults = vpdRoute.Defaults;             RouteConstraints = vpdRoute.Constraints;             RouteDataTokens = virtualPathData.DataTokens;             RouteValues = routeValues;         }     } } 

This code may look familiar, it's because I've adapted it from Phil Haack's route debugger source code.