ASP.NET - unable to find view - asp.net-mvc

Question

There is a long-standing issue with ASP.NET MVC not properly handling URL routes if there are forward slashes as a parameter even if they are URL encoded.
Example:
On a default install, go to this URL (adjusting ports as needed)
http://localhost:11541/Token/Create?
callback=http%3a%2f%2flocalhost%3a11491%2ftoken%2fcreatetoken%2fAddPrivateValues
Notice that the Controller is "Token" and "Create" is the method to be called. This is the error I get:
The view 'http://localhost:11491/token/createtoken/AddPrivateValues' or
its master was not found or no view engine supports the searched
locations. The following locations were searched:
~/Views/Token/http://localhost:11491/token/createtoken/AddPrivateValues.aspx
~/Views/Token/http://localhost:11491/token/createtoken/AddPrivateValues.ascx
~/Views/Shared/http://localhost:11491/token/createtoken/AddPrivateValues.aspx
~/Views/Shared/http://localhost:11491/token/createtoken/AddPrivateValues.ascx
Notice that it's calling "CreateToken/AddPrivateValues". This is wrong. It should be calling Token.Create.
This issue appears to have been broken since 2009 (according to prior S.O. research) so I'm not holding my breath. I just need to fix this and move it to Azure.
I tried adding a {*id} route to my controller, but that doesn't work because there are many forward slashes. The only way to fix this is to disable this parsing in the machine.config (web.config WILL NOT WORK)
Question
How do I set this property in Windows Azure, without using RDP so that the permissions on Web.config are as secure and locked down as they were before I attempted to do this?

Answer 1

I am unable to replicate your issue on a clean deployment of an MVC 4 project. How are you trying to pass the callback parameter back to your view (if at all). If you are using
return View(callback);
This would be why it is failing, because it is interpreting the string variable as a view name. Try either storing it in a view bag or encapsulating it within a view model. As a side note, I know that passing parameters with slashes seems to work in all MVC versions since on the Account/Login controller action you can send a returnUrl without issue.
Below is my configuration, let me know if I have deviated anywhere from your setup.
Route Config
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
//Changed default route to allow me to only have to create one controller
routes.MapRoute(
name: "Default",
url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
defaults: new { controller = "Token", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
);
}
Token Controller
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
public ActionResult Create(string callback)
{
#ViewBag.Item = callback;
return View();
}
Create.cshtml
#{
ViewBag.Title = "Create";
}
<h2>Create</h2>
#ViewBag.Item
My URL: http://localhost:11319/Token/Create?callback=http%3a%2f%2flocalhost%3a11491%2ftoken%2fcreatetoken%2fAddPrivateValues
My Create Page Results
<h2>Create</h2>
http://localhost:11491/token/createtoken/AddPrivateValues
<script src="/Scripts/jquery-1.8.2.js"></script>