asp .net mvc routing url with custom literal - asp.net-mvc

Question

Is it possible to make url with custom literal separator that can have default parameters ?
context.MapRoute(
"Forums_links",
"Forum/{forumId}-{name}",
new { area = "Forums", action = "Index", controller = "Forum" },
new[] { "Jami.Web.Areas.Forums.Controllers" }
);
I have this as you see im using to dash to separate id from name so I can have url like:
/Forum/1-forum-name
Instead of:
/Forum/1/forum-name
I see the problem is I'm using multiple dashes. And routing engine don't know which one to separate. But overalll it doesn't change my question because I want to use multiple dashes anyway.

Answer 1

Very interesting question.
The only way I could come up with is much like Daniel's, with one extra feature.
context.MapRoute(
"Forums_links",
"Forum/{forumIdAndName}",
new { area = "Forums", action = "Index", controller = "Forum" },
new { item = #"^\d+-(([a-zA-Z0-9]+)-)*([a-zA-Z0-9]+)$" } //constraint
new[] { "Jami.Web.Areas.Forums.Controllers" }
);
That way, the only items that will get matched to this route are ones formatted in the pattern of:
[one or more digit]-[zero or more repeating groups of string separated by dashes]-[final string]
From here you would use the method Daniel posted to parse the data you need from the forumIdAndName parameter.

Answer 2

One way to achieve this could be by combining id and name into the same route value:
context.MapRoute(
"Forums_links",
"Forum/{forumIdAndName}",
new { area = "Forums", action = "Index", controller = "Forum" },
new[] { "Jami.Web.Areas.Forums.Controllers" }
);
And then extract the Id from it:
private static int? GetForumId(string forumIdAndName)
{
int i = forumIdAndName.IndexOf("-");
if (i < 1) return null;
string s = forumIdAndName.Substring(0, i);
int id;
if (!int.TryParse(s, out id)) return null;
return id;
}