Web Api 2 empty string parameter GET

Question

i have setup the route to be: [Route("{id}/users/search/{search}")] and the associated action is: SomeAction(int id, string text)

The service has the following function. for the resource with id={id} and the users of this resource get the users that match with the {search} term (username, email etc).

the {search} can have a value so the service returns only the matching entities or does not have a value (empty string or null) so the service returns everything.

For the part with a value it works fine. For the second part i cannot find something to set the get request that matches the empty string.

i tried the following: 1/users/search/null {search} = "null" 1/users/search/ does not match route 1/users/search does not match route

has anyone a hint how this could be done?

Update: i have tried to replace the action: SomeAction(int id, string text) with: SomeAction(Model model) where model is

public class ApplicationUserSearchModel
{
    [Required]
    public int Id { get; set; }
    [Required(AllowEmptyStrings = true)]
    public string MatchText { get; set; }
}

with no luck since i don't know what to send in order to match the url to this.

Answer 1

You should tag your search parameter with ? to mark it as optional in the route, and set it to null by default in your action.

[Route("{id}/users/search/{search?}")]
public HttpResponseMessage Search(int id, string search = null)    

---

I originally thought the route/action parameter names were the issue, but I was incorrect. Here is the previous answer:

The parameter names in your route definition and your action don't match, which is causing your problem.

[Route("{id}/users/search/{search}")]
public HttpResponseMessage Search(int id, string text)

You should update the string parameter in your action from text to search, to match the parameter name in your Route attribute.