Get controller and action name from within controller?

Question

string actionName = this.ControllerContext.RouteData.Values["action"].ToString();
string controllerName = this.ControllerContext.RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString();

Here are some extension methods for getting that information (it also includes the ID):

public static class HtmlRequestHelper
{
    public static string Id(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper)
    {
        var routeValues = HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values;

        if (routeValues.ContainsKey("id"))
            return (string)routeValues["id"];
        else if (HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString.AllKeys.Contains("id"))
            return HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString["id"];

        return string.Empty;
    }

    public static string Controller(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper)
    {
        var routeValues = HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values;

        if (routeValues.ContainsKey("controller"))
            return (string)routeValues["controller"];

        return string.Empty;
    }

    public static string Action(this HtmlHelper htmlHelper)
    {
        var routeValues = HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values;

        if (routeValues.ContainsKey("action"))
            return (string)routeValues["action"];

        return string.Empty;
    }
}

Usage:

@Html.Controller();
@Html.Action();
@Html.Id();

Might be useful. I needed the action in the constructor of the controller, and it appears at this point of the MVC lifecycle, this hasn't initialized, and ControllerContext = null. Instead of delving into the MVC lifecycle and finding the appropriate function name to override, I just found the action in the RequestContext.RouteData.

But in order to do so, as with any HttpContext related uses in the constructor, you have to specify the full namespace, because this.HttpContext also hasn't been initialized. Luckily, it appears System.Web.HttpContext.Current is static.

// controller constructor
public MyController() {
    // grab action from RequestContext
    string action = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext.RouteData.GetRequiredString("action");

    // grab session (another example of using System.Web.HttpContext static reference)
    string sessionTest = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Session["test"] as string
}

NOTE: likely not the most supported way to access all properties in HttpContext, but for RequestContext and Session it appears to work fine in my application.

var routeValues = HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext.RouteData.Values;
if (routeValues != null) 
{
    if (routeValues.ContainsKey("action"))
    {
        var actionName = routeValues["action"].ToString();
                }
    if (routeValues.ContainsKey("controller"))
    {
        var controllerName = routeValues["controller"].ToString();
    }
}

 @this.ViewContext.RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString();

This is what I have so far:

var actionName = filterContext.ActionDescriptor.ActionName;
var controllerName = filterContext.ActionDescriptor.ControllerDescriptor.ControllerName;

Here is the simplest and most practical answer to getting a name:

var actionName = RouteData.Values["action"];
var controllerName = RouteData.Values["controller"];

Or

string actionName = RouteData.Values["action"].ToString();
string controllerName = RouteData.Values["controller"].ToString();

Code above tests with asp.net mvc 5.