MVC Web Api not getting called from javascript ajax - asp.net-mvc

Question

I have a Durandal/Hot Towel test app I'm trying to wire up. I have the below ajax call but I'm getting a 404 error.
GET http/.../api/Pizza/GetPizzasByOrderId?%22a8926610-a713-494c-bb15-46f6487a01c7%22 404 (Not Found)
I can manually change the url to:
http/.../api/GetPizzasByOrderId?orderId=a8926610-a713-494c-bb15-46f6487a01c7
It works. But I would like to know why the other call isn't working or more so, why is the ajax messing the parameter up in the URL and not as data like it does with complex objects. I have a get and a save that is working just fine. The get has zero params and the save is passing a complex object in.
C# Web Api Controller:
public class PizzaController : ApiController
{
[HttpGet]
public IEnumerable<Pizza> GetPizzasByOrderId(Guid orderId)
{
return DATA.GetPizzasByOrderId(orderId);
}
}
JAVASCRIPT:
var dataCall = $.ajax(config.getPizzasByOrderIdUrl, {
data: ko.toJSON(orderId),
type: "get",
contentType: "application/json"
});
Should I just change my JavaScript code to the below and be done with it or is there a better way to talk to the Api?
var getPizzasByOrderId = function (orderId) {
return Q.when($.getJSON(config.getPizzasByOrderIdUrl + "?orderId=" + orderId));
};

Answer 1

You could either use the code as you have it in that last code block, or you could pass in an object in place of your orderId as in the code block below. Either way, the difference is that the orderId parameter is being named.
var dataCall = $.ajax({
url: config.getPizzasByOrderIdUrl,
type: "GET",
data: {orderId : orderId},
});
In regard to why $.ajax() works fine for your POST, you can check this out pretty easily by running these two bits of code and viewing the requests that go across the wire. I recommend using google chrome.
Load a page that has jQuery loaded
Open the developer tools and go to the console
Enter the following code snippet
$.ajax("", {
data: {orderId: 123},
type: "get",
contentType: "application/json"
});
Switch to the network tab and click on the one that ends in ?orderId=123
Notice that it does have the data appended as query string parameters
In the snippet above, replace the "get" with "post"
After you hit enter, you should see another request on the network tab of the developer tools.
Notice that when changing nothing but the request type, the data is moved from the query string to the body. As noted in the comments, WebApi will pull from the body of the request and use the model binder to populate the complex object.