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MvcNavigationHelpers

This is the way navigation is done in ASP.NET MVC applications:

public ActionResult AwfulIndex()
{
    // NOTE: If you do this in production code, you are a Bad Person. You should take a dependency on
    // an IClock instead. And if you use DateTime rather than DateTimeOffset, you deserve everything bad
    // that happens to you :)
    var todayIsThursday = DateTimeOffset.Now.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Thursday;

    return todayIsThursday
               ? RedirectToAction("ThursdayLandingPage", new { someAnswer = 42})
               : RedirectToAction("DefaultLandingPage", new { someQuestion = "What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?"});
}

This way is yucky. Magic strings are great, and all, but I like my code to keep working after I've shipped it and want to rename something.

I like this way better:

public ActionResult Index()
{
    // NOTE: If you do this in production code, you are a Bad Person. You should take a dependency on
    // an IClock instead. And if you use DateTime rather than DateTimeOffset, you deserve everything bad
    // that happens to you :)
    var todayIsThursday = DateTimeOffset.Now.DayOfWeek == DayOfWeek.Thursday;

    return todayIsThursday
               ? Redirect(Url.UrlFor<HomeController>(c => c.ThursdayLandingPage(42)))
               : Redirect(Url.UrlFor<HomeController>(c => c.DefaultLandingPage("What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?")));
}

What's different between these two?

The awful one:

  • has no strong typing;
  • will allow me to specify invalid routing values;
  • leads to innumerable runtime errors after some bright spark decides to rename a controller, method or parameter;
  • isn't refactoring-friendly.

The nice one:

  • is strongly-typed;
  • will generate compile-time errors if you miss a required parameter;
  • simply doesn't let me call parameters the wrong thing;
  • pulls route values directly out of your expression;
  • is friendly to even the most primitive refactoring tools (Here's lookin' at you, Visual Studio...)

How do I get it?

Install-Package MvcNavigationHelpers

Job done.

I'd probably add a convention test or two to make sure that nobody's calling any of the silly magic-string overloads any more, especially if you have new people playing in your sandpit on occasion - they'll probably think they're doing a good thing by using explicit string for controller and action names. You can automate this. It has value and it's cheap to do, so you should automate this.

FAQ

Haven't you heard of MvcContrib?

Nope. Never heard of it. I came down in the last shower, me.

If you want the full feature set of MvcContrib, go right ahead. I tend to avoid pulling it into my own projects as it comes with a bunch of baggage I don't really want around, but that's just me. YMMV.

This is, like, two classes. Why did you NuGet something that small?

Because I keep using it in different projects and want it available to me.

If you like it, that's a bonus :)

Don't you know that ReSharper will refactor controller action names for you?

You mileage will definitely vary on this one. I love ReSharper - and anyone who doesn't use it is stealing from themselves and their employer - but magic strings are magic strings. I don't like them, and neither should you.

Try a ^R^R on a method named "Index" sometime and let me know how that goes for you :)