2727人阅读
asp .net mvc（2）
错误大致如下：
“/”应用程序中的服务器错误。
无法找到资源。
说明:&HTTP 404。您正在查找的资源(或者它的一个依赖项)可能已被移除，或其名称已更改，或暂时不可用。请检查以下 URL 并确保其拼写正确。&
请求的 URL:&/Chess
版本信息:&Microsoft .NET Framework 版本:4.0.30319; ASP.NET 版本:4.0.
楼主是根据pro asp.net mvc3 这本书，学习到第八章，nav那边出的问题。
表现为点击链接后出现：
之类的URL。
找了很久才发现是因为当时建数据库的时候，没有选择nvarchar，而是选择nchar，造成空格过多的情况。
为什么这之前都不会发现呢？因为很多时候数据库里的数据都被用来当成纯文本，
纯文本有没有空格，如果不是特别去观察是不会发现的。
而当把他们当成URL的一部分的时候，空格导致bug出现。
一方面是自己经验不足，没有看到%20直接联想到数据库的问题，一方面也是数据库建立时间较长，没有
与现在做的联系起来。
总之修改数据库之后，马上就正常了。
参考知识库
* 以上用户言论只代表其个人观点，不代表CSDN网站的观点或立场
访问：18765次
排名：千里之外http status code 404 - How can I properly handle 404 in ASP.NET MVC? - Stack Overflow
to customize your list.
Join the Stack Overflow Community
Stack Overflow is a community of 4.7 million programmers, just like you, helping each other.
J it only takes a minute:
I am just getting started on ASP.NET MVC so bear with me.
I've searched around this site and various others and have seen a few implementations of this.
I forgot to mention I am using RC2
Using URL Routing:
routes.MapRoute(
new { controller = "Errors", action = "//q/NotFound" }
The above seems to take care of requests like this (assuming default route tables setup by initial MVC project): "/blah/blah/blah/blah"
Overriding HandleUnknownAction() in the controller itself:
// 404s - handle here (bad action requested
protected override void HandleUnknownAction(string actionName) {
ViewData["actionName"] = actionN
View("NotFound").ExecuteResult(this.ControllerContext);
However the previous strategies do not handle a request to a Bad/Unknown controller.
For example, I do not have a "/IDoNotExist", if I request this I get the generic 404 page from the web server and not my 404 if I use routing + override.
So finally, my question is:
Is there any way to catch this type of request using a route or something else in the MVC framework itself?
OR should I just default to using Web.Config customErrors as my 404 handler and forget all this?
I assume if I go with customErrors I'll have to store the generic 404 page outside of /Views due to the Web.Config restrictions on direct access.
Anyway any best practices or guidance is appreciated.
12.5k84970
The code is taken from
and works in ASP.net MVC 1.0 as well
Here's how I handle http exceptions:
protected void Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
Exception exception = Server.GetLastError();
// Log the exception.
ILogger logger = Container.Resolve&ILogger&();
logger.Error(exception);
Response.Clear();
HttpException httpException = exception as HttpE
RouteData routeData = new RouteData();
routeData.Values.Add("controller", "Error");
if (httpException == null)
routeData.Values.Add("action", "Index");
else //It's an Http Exception, Let's handle it.
switch (httpException.GetHttpCode())
// Page not found.
routeData.Values.Add("action", "HttpError404");
// Server error.
routeData.Values.Add("action", "HttpError500");
// Here you can handle Views to other error codes.
// I choose a General error template
routeData.Values.Add("action", "General");
// Pass exception details to the target error View.
routeData.Values.Add("error", exception);
// Clear the error on server.
Server.ClearError();
// Avoid IIS7 getting in the middle
Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors =
// Call target Controller and pass the routeData.
IController errorController = new ErrorController();
errorController.Execute(new RequestContext(
new HttpContextWrapper(Context), routeData));
28.3k18104181
Requirements for 404
The following are my requirements for a 404 solution and below i show how i implement it:
I want to handle matched routes with bad actions
I want to handle matched routes with bad controllers
I want to handle un-matched routes (arbitrary urls that my app can't understand) - i don't want these bubbling up to the Global.asax or IIS because then
I want a way to handle in the same manner as above, custom 404s - like when an ID is submitted for an object that does not exist (maybe deleted)
I want all my 404s to return an MVC view (not a static page) to which i can pump more data later if necessary () and they must return the HTTP 404 status code
I think you should save Application_Error in the Global.asax for higher things, like unhandled exceptions and logging (like
shows) but not 404 handling. This is why my suggestion keeps the 404 stuff out of the Global.asax file.
Step 1: Have a common place for 404-error logic
This is a good idea for maintainability. Use an
so that future improvements to your
can adapt easily. Also, make sure your response has the 404 code!
public class ErrorController : MyController
#region Http404
public ActionResult Http404(string url)
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.NotF
var model = new NotFoundViewModel();
// If the url is relative ('NotFound' route) then replace with Requested path
model.RequestedUrl = Request.Url.OriginalString.Contains(url) & Request.Url.OriginalString != url ?
Request.Url.OriginalString :
// Dont get the user stuck in a 'retry loop' by
// allowing the Referrer to be the same as the Request
model.ReferrerUrl = Request.UrlReferrer != null &&
Request.UrlReferrer.OriginalString != model.RequestedUrl ?
Request.UrlReferrer.OriginalString :
// TODO: insert ILogger here
return View("NotFound", model);
public class NotFoundViewModel
public string RequestedUrl { }
public string ReferrerUrl { }
#endregion
Step 2: Use a base Controller class so you can easily invoke your custom 404 action and wire up HandleUnknownAction
404s in ASP.NET MVC need to be caught at a number of places. The first is HandleUnknownAction.
The InvokeHttp404 method creates a common place for re-routing to the ErrorController and our new Http404 action. Think !
public abstract class MyController : Controller
#region Http404 handling
protected override void HandleUnknownAction(string actionName)
// If controller is ErrorController dont 'nest' exceptions
if (this.GetType() != typeof(ErrorController))
this.InvokeHttp404(HttpContext);
public ActionResult InvokeHttp404(HttpContextBase httpContext)
IController errorController = ObjectFactory.GetInstance&ErrorController&();
var errorRoute = new RouteData();
errorRoute.Values.Add("controller", "Error");
errorRoute.Values.Add("action", "Http404");
errorRoute.Values.Add("url", httpContext.Request.Url.OriginalString);
errorController.Execute(new RequestContext(
httpContext, errorRoute));
return new EmptyResult();
#endregion
Step 3: Use Dependency Injection in your Controller Factory and wire up 404 HttpExceptions
Like so (it doesn't have to be StructureMap):
MVC1.0 example:
public class StructureMapControllerFactory : DefaultControllerFactory
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(Type controllerType)
if (controllerType == null)
return base.GetControllerInstance(controllerType);
catch (HttpException ex)
if (ex.GetHttpCode() == (int)HttpStatusCode.NotFound)
IController errorController = ObjectFactory.GetInstance&ErrorController&();
((ErrorController)errorController).InvokeHttp404(RequestContext.HttpContext);
return errorC
return ObjectFactory.GetInstance(controllerType) as C
MVC2.0 example:
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType)
if (controllerType == null)
return base.GetControllerInstance(requestContext, controllerType);
catch (HttpException ex)
if (ex.GetHttpCode() == 404)
IController errorController = ObjectFactory.GetInstance&ErrorController&();
((ErrorController)errorController).InvokeHttp404(requestContext.HttpContext);
return errorC
return ObjectFactory.GetInstance(controllerType) as C
I think its better to catch errors closer to where they originate. This is why i prefer the above to the Application_Error handler.
This is the second place to catch 404s.
Step 4: Add a NotFound route to Global.asax for urls that fail to be parsed into your app
This route should point to our Http404 action. Notice the url param will be a relative url because the routing engine is stripping the domain part here? That is why we have all that conditional url logic in Step 1.
routes.MapRoute("NotFound", "{*url}",
new { controller = "Error", action = "//q/Http404" });
This is the third and final place to catch 404s in an MVC app that you don't invoke yourself. If you don't catch unmatched routes here then MVC will pass the problem up to ASP.NET (Global.asax) and you don't really want that in this situation.
Step 5: Finally, invoke 404s when your app can't find something
Like when a bad ID is submitted to my Loans controller (derives from MyController):
// GET: /Detail/ID
public ActionResult Detail(int ID)
Loan loan = this._svc.GetLoans().WithID(ID);
if (loan == null)
return this.InvokeHttp404(HttpContext);
return View(loan);
It would be nice if all this could be hooked up in fewer places with less code but i think this solution is more maintainable, more testable and fairly pragmatic.
Thanks for the feedback so far. I'd love to get more.
NOTE: This has been edited significantly from my original answer but the purpose/requirements are the same - this is why i have not added a new answer
ASP.NET MVC doesn't support custom 404 pages very well. Custom controller factory, catch-all route, base controller class with HandleUnknownAction - argh!
IIS custom error pages are better alternative so far:
web.config
&system.webServer&
&httpErrors errorMode="Custom" existingResponse="Replace"&
&remove statusCode="404" /&
&error statusCode="404" responseMode="ExecuteURL" path="/Error/PageNotFound" /&
&/httpErrors&
&/system.webServer&
ErrorController
public class ErrorController : Controller
public ActionResult PageNotFound()
Response.StatusCode = 404;
return View();
Sample Project
15.9k66676
Quick Answer / TL;DR
For the lazy people out there:
Install-Package MagicalUnicornMvcErrorToolkit -Version 1.0
Then remove this line from global.asax
GlobalFilters.Filters.Add(new HandleErrorAttribute());
And this is only for IIS7+ and IIS Express.
If you're using Cassini .. well .. um .. er.. awkward ...
Long, explained answer
I know this has been answered. But the answer is REALLY SIMPLE (cheers to
for really answering this).
There is no need to do anything custom.
For ASP.NET MVC3, all the bits and pieces are there.
Step 1 -> Update your web.config in TWO spots.
&system.web&
&customErrors mode="On" defaultRedirect="/ServerError"&
&error statusCode="404" redirect="/NotFound" /&
&/customErrors&
&system.webServer&
&httpErrors errorMode="Custom"&
&remove statusCode="404" subStatusCode="-1" /&
&error statusCode="404" path="/NotFound" responseMode="ExecuteURL" /&
&remove statusCode="500" subStatusCode="-1" /&
&error statusCode="500" path="/ServerError" responseMode="ExecuteURL" /&
&/httpErrors&
&system.webServer&
&/system.web&
Now take careful note of the ROUTES I've decided to use. You can use anything, but my routes are
/NotFound &- for a 404 not found, error page.
/ServerError &- for any other error, include errors that happen in my code. this is a 500 Internal Server Error
See how the first section in &system.web& only has one custom entry? The statusCode="404" entry? I've only listed one status code because all other errors, including the 500 Server Error (ie. those pesky error that happens when your code has a bug and crashes the user's request) .. all the other errors are handled by the setting defaultRedirect="/ServerError" .. which says, if you are not a 404 page not found, then please goto the route /ServerError.
Ok. that's out of the way.. now to my routes listed in global.asax
Step 2 - Creating the routes in Global.asax
Here's my full route section..
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
routes.IgnoreRoute("{*favicon}", new {favicon = @"(.*/)?favicon.ico(/.*)?"});
routes.MapRoute(
"Error - 404",
"NotFound",
new { controller = "Error", action = "//q/NotFound" }
routes.MapRoute(
"Error - 500",
"ServerError",
new { controller = "Error", action = "//q/ServerError"}
routes.MapRoute(
"Default", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
new {controller = "Home", action = "//q/Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional}
That lists two ignore routes -> axd's and favicons (ooo! bonus ignore route, for you!)
Then (and the order is IMPERATIVE HERE), I have my two explicit error handling routes .. followed by any other routes. In this case, the default one. Of course, I have more, but that's special to my web site. Just make sure the error routes are at the top of the list. Order is imperative.
Finally, while we are inside our global.asax file, we do NOT globally register the HandleError attribute. No, no, no sir. Nadda. Nope. Nien. Negative. Noooooooooo...
Remove this line from global.asax
GlobalFilters.Filters.Add(new HandleErrorAttribute());
Step 3 - Create the controller with the action methods
Now .. we add a controller with two action methods ...
public class ErrorController : Controller
public ActionResult NotFound()
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.NotF
return View();
public ActionResult ServerError()
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerE
// Todo: Pass the exception into the view model, which you can make.
That's an exercise, dear reader, for -you-.
In case u want to pass it to the view, if you're admin, etc.
// if (User.IsAdmin) // &-- I just made that up :) U get the idea...
var exception = Server.GetLastError();
return View();
// Shhh .. secret test method .. ooOOooOooOOOooohhhhhhhh
public ActionResult ThrowError()
throw new NotImplementedException("Pew ^ Pew");
Ok, lets check this out. First of all, there is NO [HandleError] attribute here. Why? Because the built in ASP.NET framework is already handling errors AND we have specified all the shit we need to do to handle an error :) It's in this method!
Next, I have the two action methods. Nothing tough there. If u wish to show any exception info, then u can use Server.GetLastError() to get that info.
Bonus WTF: Yes, I made a third action method, to test error handling.
Step 4 - Create the Views
And finally, create two views. Put em in the normal view spot, for this controller.
Bonus comments
You don't need an Application_Error(object sender, EventArgs e)
The above steps all work 100% perfectly with . Elmah fraking wroxs!
And that, my friends, should be it.
Now, congrats for reading this much and have a Unicorn as a prize!
37.3k69262457
I've investigated A LOT on how to properly manage 404s in MVC (specifically MVC3), and this, IMHO is the best solution I've come up with:
In global.asax:
public class MvcApplication : HttpApplication
protected void Application_EndRequest()
if (Context.Response.StatusCode == 404)
Response.Clear();
var rd = new RouteData();
rd.DataTokens["area"] = "AreaName"; // In case controller is in another area
rd.Values["controller"] = "Errors";
rd.Values["action"] = "NotFound";
IController c = new ErrorsController();
c.Execute(new RequestContext(new HttpContextWrapper(Context), rd));
ErrorsController:
public sealed class ErrorsController : Controller
public ActionResult NotFound()
object model = Request.Url.PathAndQ
if (!Request.IsAjaxRequest())
result = View(model);
result = PartialView("_NotFound", model);
(Optional)
Explanation:
AFAIK, there are 6 different cases that an ASP.NET MVC3 apps can generate 404s.
(Automatically generated by ASP.NET Framework:)
(1) An URL does not find a match in the route table.
(Automatically generated by ASP.NET MVC Framework:)
(2) An URL finds a match in the route table, but specifies a non-existent controller.
(3) An URL finds a match in the route table, but specifies a non-existant action.
(Manually generated:)
(4) An action returns an HttpNotFoundResult by using the method HttpNotFound().
(5) An action throws an HttpException with the status code 404.
(6) An actions manually modifies the Response.StatusCode property to 404.
Normally, you want to accomplish 3 objectives:
(1) Show a custom 404 error page to the user.
(2) Maintain the 404 status code on the client response (specially important for SEO).
(3) Send the response directly, without involving a 302 redirection.
There are various ways to try to accomplish this:
&system.web&
&customErrors mode="On"&
&error statusCode="404" redirect="~/Errors/NotFound"/&
&/customError&
&/system.web&
Problems with this solution:
Does not comply with objective (1) in cases (1), (4), (6).
Does not comply with objective (2) automatically. It must be programmed manually.
Does not comply with objective (3).
&system.webServer&
&httpErrors errorMode="Custom"&
&remove statusCode="404"/&
&error statusCode="404" path="App/Errors/NotFound" responseMode="ExecuteURL"/&
&/httpErrors&
&/system.webServer&
Problems with this solution:
Only works on IIS 7+.
Does not comply with objective (1) in cases (2), (3), (5).
Does not comply with objective (2) automatically. It must be programmed manually.
&system.webServer&
&httpErrors errorMode="Custom" existingResponse="Replace"&
&remove statusCode="404"/&
&error statusCode="404" path="App/Errors/NotFound" responseMode="ExecuteURL"/&
&/httpErrors&
&/system.webServer&
Problems with this solution:
Only works on IIS 7+.
Does not comply with objective (2) automatically. It must be programmed manually.
It obscures application level http exceptions. E.g. can't use customErrors section, System.Web.Mvc.HandleErrorAttribute, etc. It can't only show generic error pages.
&system.web&
&customErrors mode="On"&
&error statusCode="404" redirect="~/Errors/NotFound"/&
&/customError&
&/system.web&
&system.webServer&
&httpErrors errorMode="Custom"&
&remove statusCode="404"/&
&error statusCode="404" path="App/Errors/NotFound" responseMode="ExecuteURL"/&
&/httpErrors&
&/system.webServer&
Problems with this solution:
Only works on IIS 7+.
Does not comply with objective (2) automatically. It must be programmed manually.
Does not comply with objective (3) in cases (2), (3), (5).
People that have troubled with this before even tried to create their own libraries (see ). But the previous solution seems to cover all the cases without the complexity of using an external library.
I really like cottsaks solution and think its very clearly explained. my only addition was to alter step 2 as follows
public abstract class MyController : Controller
#region Http404 handling
protected override void HandleUnknownAction(string actionName)
//if controller is ErrorController dont 'nest' exceptions
if(this.GetType() != typeof(ErrorController))
this.InvokeHttp404(HttpContext);
public ActionResult InvokeHttp404(HttpContextBase httpContext)
IController errorController = ObjectFactory.GetInstance&ErrorController&();
var errorRoute = new RouteData();
errorRoute.Values.Add("controller", "Error");
errorRoute.Values.Add("action", "Http404");
errorRoute.Values.Add("url", httpContext.Request.Url.OriginalString);
errorController.Execute(new RequestContext(
httpContext, errorRoute));
return new EmptyResult();
#endregion
Basically this stops urls containing invalid actions AND controllers from triggering the exception routine twice. eg for urls such as asdfsdf/dfgdfgd
6,82023163
The only way I could get @cottsak's method to work for invalid controllers was to modify the existing route request in the CustomControllerFactory, like so:
public class CustomControllerFactory : DefaultControllerFactory
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType)
if (controllerType == null)
return base.GetControllerInstance(requestContext, controllerType);
return ObjectFactory.GetInstance(controllerType) as C
catch (HttpException ex)
if (ex.GetHttpCode() == (int)HttpStatusCode.NotFound)
requestContext.RouteData.Values["controller"] = "Error";
requestContext.RouteData.Values["action"] = "Http404";
requestContext.RouteData.Values.Add("url", requestContext.HttpContext.Request.Url.OriginalString);
return ObjectFactory.GetInstance&ErrorController&();
I should mention I'm using MVC 2.0.
Here is another method using MVC tools which you can handle requests to bad controller names, bad route names, and any other criteria you see fit inside of an Action method.
Personally, I prefer to avoid as many web.config settings as possible, because they do the 302 / 200 redirect and do not support ResponseRewrite (Server.Transfer) using Razor views.
I'd prefer to return a 404 with a custom error page for SEO reasons.
Some of this is new take on cottsak's technique above.
This solution also uses minimal web.config settings favoring the MVC 3 Error Filters instead.
Just throw a HttpException from an action or custom ActionFilterAttribute.
Throw New HttpException(HttpStatusCode.NotFound, "[Custom Exception Message Here]")
Add the following setting to your web.config.
This is required to use MVC's HandleErrorAttribute.
&customErrors mode="On" redirectMode="ResponseRedirect" /&
Add a custom HandleHttpErrorAttribute similar to the MVC framework's HandleErrorAttribute, except for HTTP errors:
&AttributeUsage(AttributeTargets.All, AllowMultiple:=True)&
Public Class HandleHttpErrorAttribute
Inherits FilterAttribute
Implements IExceptionFilter
Private Const m_DefaultViewFormat As String = "ErrorHttp{0}"
Private m_HttpCode As HttpStatusCode
Private m_Master As String
Private m_View As String
Public Property HttpCode As HttpStatusCode
If m_HttpCode = 0 Then
Return HttpStatusCode.NotFound
Return m_HttpCode
Set(value As HttpStatusCode)
m_HttpCode = value
End Property
Public Property Master As String
Return If(m_Master, String.Empty)
Set(value As String)
m_Master = value
End Property
Public Property View As String
If String.IsNullOrEmpty(m_View) Then
Return String.Format(m_DefaultViewFormat, Me.HttpCode)
Return m_View
Set(value As String)
m_View = value
End Property
Public Sub OnException(filterContext As System.Web.Mvc.ExceptionContext) Implements System.Web.Mvc.IExceptionFilter.OnException
If filterContext Is Nothing Then Throw New ArgumentException("filterContext")
If filterContext.IsChildAction Then
If filterContext.ExceptionHandled OrElse Not filterContext.HttpContext.IsCustomErrorEnabled Then
Dim ex As HttpException = TryCast(filterContext.Exception, HttpException)
If ex Is Nothing OrElse ex.GetHttpCode = HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError Then
If ex.GetHttpCode && Me.HttpCode Then
Dim controllerName As String = filterContext.RouteData.Values("controller")
Dim actionName As String = filterContext.RouteData.Values("action")
Dim model As New HandleErrorInfo(filterContext.Exception, controllerName, actionName)
filterContext.Result = New ViewResult With {
.ViewName = Me.View,
.MasterName = Me.Master,
.ViewData = New ViewDataDictionary(Of HandleErrorInfo)(model),
.TempData = filterContext.Controller.TempData
filterContext.ExceptionHandled = True
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.Clear()
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = Me.HttpCode
filterContext.HttpContext.Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors = True
Add Filters to the GlobalFilterCollection (GlobalFilters.Filters) in Global.asax.
This example will route all InternalServerError (500) errors to the Error shared view (Views/Shared/Error.vbhtml).
NotFound (404) errors will be sent to ErrorHttp404.vbhtml in the shared views as well.
I've added a 401 error here to show you how this can be extended for additional HTTP error codes.
Note that these must be shared views, and they all use the System.Web.Mvc.HandleErrorInfo object as a the model.
filters.Add(New HandleHttpErrorAttribute With {.View = "ErrorHttp401", .HttpCode = HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized})
filters.Add(New HandleHttpErrorAttribute With {.View = "ErrorHttp404", .HttpCode = HttpStatusCode.NotFound})
filters.Add(New HandleErrorAttribute With {.View = "Error"})
Create a base controller class and inherit from it in your controllers.
This step allows us to handle unknown action names and raise the HTTP 404 error to our HandleHttpErrorAttribute.
Public Class BaseController
Inherits System.Web.Mvc.Controller
Protected Overrides Sub HandleUnknownAction(actionName As String)
Me.ActionInvoker.InvokeAction(Me.ControllerContext, "Unknown")
Public Function Unknown() As ActionResult
Throw New HttpException(HttpStatusCode.NotFound, "The specified controller or action does not exist.")
Return New EmptyResult
End Function
Create a ControllerFactory override, and override it in your Global.asax file in Application_Start.
This step allows us to raise the HTTP 404 exception when an invalid controller name has been specified.
Public Class MyControllerFactory
Inherits DefaultControllerFactory
Protected Overrides Function GetControllerInstance(requestContext As System.Web.Routing.RequestContext, controllerType As System.Type) As System.Web.Mvc.IController
Return MyBase.GetControllerInstance(requestContext, controllerType)
Catch ex As HttpException
Return DependencyResolver.Current.GetService(Of BaseController)()
End Function
'In Global.asax.vb Application_Start:
controllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(New MyControllerFactory)
Include a special route in your RoutTable.Routes for the BaseController Unknown action.
This will help us raise a 404 in the case where a user accesses an unknown controller, or unknown action.
'BaseController
routes.MapRoute( _
"Unknown", "BaseController/{action}/{id}", _
New With {.controller = "BaseController", .action = "//q/Unknown", .id = UrlParameter.Optional} _
This example demonstrated how one can use the MVC framework to return 404 Http Error Codes to the browser without a redirect using filter attributes and shared error views.
It also demonstrates showing the same custom error page when invalid controller names and action names are specified.
I'll add a screenshot of an invalid controller name, action name, and a custom 404 raised from the Home/TriggerNotFound action if I get enough votes to post one =).
Fiddler returns a 404 message when I access the following URLs using this solution:
/InvalidController
/Home/InvalidRoute
/InvalidController/InvalidRoute
/Home/TriggerNotFound
cottsak's post above and these articles were good references.
3,65611821
In MVC4 WebAPI 404 can be handle in the following way,
COURSES APICONTROLLER
// GET /api/courses/5
public HttpResponseMessage&Courses& Get(int id)
HttpResponseMessage&Courses& resp =
var aCourse = _courses.Where(c =& c.Id == id).FirstOrDefault();
resp = aCourse == null ? new HttpResponseMessage&Courses&(System.Net.HttpStatusCode.NotFound) : new HttpResponseMessage&Courses&(aCourse);
HOME CONTROLLER
public ActionResult Course(int id)
return View(id);
&div id="course"&&/div&
&script type="text/javascript"&
var id = @M
var course = $('#course');
url: '/api/courses/' + id,
success: function (data) {
course.text(data.Name);
statusCode: {
404: function()
course.text('Course not available!');
public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");
routes.MapHttpRoute(
name: "DefaultApi",
routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
routes.MapRoute(
name: "Default",
url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "//q/Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
2,52721825
Try NotFoundMVC on nuget. It works , no setup.
16.4k34131219
My solution, in case someone finds it useful.
In Web.config:
&system.web&
&customErrors mode="On" defaultRedirect="Error" &
&error statusCode="404" redirect="~/Error/PageNotFound"/&
&/customErrors&
&/system.web&
In Controllers/ErrorController.cs:
public class ErrorController : Controller
public ActionResult PageNotFound()
if(Request.IsAjaxRequest()) {
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.NotF
return Content("Not Found", "text/plain");
return View();
Add a PageNotFound.cshtml in the Shared folder, and that's it.
33.4k1379113
Posting an answer since my comment was too long...
It's both a comment and questions to the unicorn post/answer:
I prefer this answer over the others for it's simplicity and the fact that apparently some folks at Microsoft were consulted. I got three questions however and if they can be answered then I will call this answer the holy grail of all 404/500 error answers on the interwebs for an ASP.NET MVC (x) app.
@Pure.Krome
Can you update your answer with the SEO stuff from the comments pointed out by GWB (there was never any mentioning of this in your answer) - &customErrors mode="On" redirectMode="ResponseRewrite"& and &httpErrors errorMode="Custom" existingResponse="Replace"&?
Can you ask your ASP.NET team friends if it is okay to do it like that - would be nice to have some confirmation - maybe it's a big no-no to change redirectMode and existingResponse in this way to be able to play nicely with SEO?!
Can you add some clarification surrounding all that stuff (customErrors redirectMode="ResponseRewrite", customErrors redirectMode="ResponseRedirect", httpErrors errorMode="Custom" existingResponse="Replace", REMOVE customErrors COMPLETELY as someone suggested) after talking to your friends at Microsoft?
As I it would be supernice if we could make your answer more complete as this seem to be a fairly popular question with 54 000+ views.
Update: Unicorn answer does a 302 Found and a 200 OK and cannot be changed to only return 404 using a route. It has to be a physical file which is not very MVC:ish. So moving on to another solution. Too bad because this seemed to be the ultimate MVC:ish answer this far.
2,40342445
My shortened solution that works with unhandled areas, controllers and actions:
Create a view 404.cshtml.
Create a base class for your controllers:
public class Controller : System.Web.Mvc.Controller
protected override void HandleUnknownAction(string actionName)
Http404().ExecuteResult(ControllerContext);
protected virtual ViewResult Http404()
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.NotF
return View("404");
Create a custom controller factory returning your base controller as a fallback:
public class ControllerFactory : DefaultControllerFactory
protected override IController GetControllerInstance(RequestContext requestContext, Type controllerType)
if (controllerType != null)
return base.GetControllerInstance(requestContext, controllerType);
return new Controller();
Add to Application_Start() the following line:
ControllerBuilder.Current.SetControllerFactory(typeof(ControllerFactory));
It seems to me that the standard CustomErrors configuration should just work however, due to the reliance on Server.Transfer it seems that the internal implementation of ResponseRewrite isn't compatible with MVC.
This feels like a glaring functionality hole to me, so I decided to re-implement this feature using a HTTP module. The solution below allows you to handle any HTTP status code (including 404) by redirecting to any valid MVC route just as you would do normally.
&customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" redirectMode="ResponseRewrite"&
&error statusCode="404" redirect="404.aspx" /&
&error statusCode="500" redirect="~/MVCErrorPage" /&
&/customErrors&
This has been tested on the
MVC4 in Integrated Pipeline Mode (IIS Express 8)
MVC4 in Classic Mode (VS Development Server, Cassini)
MVC4 in Classic Mode (IIS6)
Generic solution which can be dropped into any MVC project
Enables support for traditional custom errors configuration
Works in both Integrated Pipeline and Classic modes
The Solution
namespace Foo.Bar.Modules {
/// &summary&
/// Enables support for CustomErrors ResponseRewrite mode in MVC.
/// &/summary&
public class ErrorHandler : IHttpModule {
private HttpContext HttpContext { get { return HttpContext.C } }
private CustomErrorsSection CustomErrors { }
public void Init(HttpApplication application) {
System.Configuration.Configuration configuration = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~");
CustomErrors = (CustomErrorsSection)configuration.GetSection("system.web/customErrors");
application.EndRequest += Application_EndR
protected void Application_EndRequest(object sender, EventArgs e) {
// only handle rewrite mode, ignore redirect configuration (if it ain't broke don't re-implement it)
if (CustomErrors.RedirectMode == CustomErrorsRedirectMode.ResponseRewrite && HttpContext.IsCustomErrorEnabled) {
int statusCode = HttpContext.Response.StatusC
// if this request has thrown an exception then find the real status code
Exception exception = HttpContext.E
if (exception != null) {
// set default error status code for application exceptions
statusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.InternalServerE
HttpException httpException = exception as HttpE
if (httpException != null) {
statusCode = httpException.GetHttpCode();
if ((HttpStatusCode)statusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK) {
Dictionary&int, string& errorPaths = new Dictionary&int, string&();
foreach (CustomError error in CustomErrors.Errors) {
errorPaths.Add(error.StatusCode, error.Redirect);
// find a custom error path for this status code
if (errorPaths.Keys.Contains(statusCode)) {
string url = //q/errorPaths[statusCode];
// avoid circular redirects
if (!HttpContext.Request.Url.AbsolutePath.Equals(VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute(url))) {
HttpContext.Response.Clear();
HttpContext.Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors =
HttpContext.Server.ClearError();
// do the redirect here
if (HttpRuntime.UsingIntegratedPipeline) {
HttpContext.Server.TransferRequest(url, true);
HttpContext.RewritePath(url, false);
IHttpHandler httpHandler = new MvcHttpHandler();
httpHandler.ProcessRequest(HttpContext);
// return the original status code to the client
// (this won't work in integrated pipleline mode)
HttpContext.Response.StatusCode = statusC
public void Dispose() {
Include this as the final HTTP module in your web.config
&system.web&
&httpModules&
&add name="ErrorHandler" type="Foo.Bar.Modules.ErrorHandler" /&
&/httpModules&
&/system.web&
&!-- IIS7+ --&
&system.webServer&
&add name="ErrorHandler" type="Foo.Bar.Modules.ErrorHandler" /&
&/modules&
&/system.webServer&
For those of you paying attention you will notice that in Integrated Pipeline mode this will always respond with HTTP 200 due to the way Server.TransferRequest works. To return the proper error code I use the following error controller.
public class ErrorController : Controller {
public ErrorController() { }
public ActionResult Index(int id) {
// pass real error code to client
HttpContext.Response.StatusCode =
HttpContext.Response.TrySkipIisCustomErrors =
return View("Errors/" + id.ToString());
2,25632044
I went through most of the solutions posted on this thread. While this question might be old, it is still very applicable to new projects even now, so I spent quite a lot of time reading up on the answers presented here as well as else where.
As @Marco pointed out the different cases under which a 404 can happen, I checked the solution I compiled together against that list. In addition to his list of requirements, I also added one more.
The solution should be able to handle MVC as well as AJAX/WebAPI calls in the most appropriate manner. (i.e. if 404 happens in MVC, it should show the Not Found page and if 404 happens in WebAPI, it should not hijack the XML/JSON response so that the consuming Javascript can parse it easily).
This solution is 2 fold:
First part of it comes from @Guillaume at . Their solution takes care of any 404 that were caused due to invalid route, invalid controller and invalid action.
The idea is to create a WebForm and then make it call the NotFound action of your MVC Errors Controller. It does all of this without any redirect so you will not see a single 302 in Fiddler. The original URL is also preserved, which makes this solution fantastic!
Second part of it comes from @Germán at . Their solution takes care of any 404 returned by your actions in the form of HttpNotFoundResult() or throw new HttpException()!
The idea is to have a filter look at the response as well as the exception thrown by your MVC controllers and to call the appropriate action in your Errors Controller. Again this solution works without any redirect and the original url is preserved!
As you can see, both of these solutions together offer a very robust error handling mechanism and they achieve all the requirements listed by @Marco as well as my requirements. If you would like to see a working sample or a demo of this solution, please leave in the comments and I would be happy to put it together.
I have gone through all articles but nothing works for me:
My requirement user type anything in your url custom 404 page should show.I thought it is very straight forward.But you should understand handling of 404 properly:
&system.web&
&customErrors mode="On" redirectMode="ResponseRewrite"&
&error statusCode="404" redirect="~/PageNotFound.aspx"/&
&/customErrors&
&/system.web&
&system.webServer&
&httpErrors errorMode="Custom"&
&remove statusCode="404"/&
&error statusCode="404" path="/PageNotFound.html" responseMode="ExecuteURL"/&
&/httpErrors&
&/system.webServer&
I found this article very helpfull.should be read at once.
Dealing with errors in ASP.NET MVC is just a pain in the butt. I tried a whole lot of suggestions on this page and on other questions and sites and nothing works good. One suggestion was to handle errors on web.config inside system.webserver but that just returns blank pages.
My goal when coming up with
NOT REDIRECT
Return PROPER STATUS CODES not 200/Ok like the default error handling
Here is my solution.
1.Add the following to system.web section
&system.web&
&customErrors mode="On" redirectMode="ResponseRewrite"&
&error statusCode="404"
redirect="~/Error/404.aspx" /&
&error statusCode="500" redirect="~/Error/500.aspx" /&
&/customErrors&
&system.web&
The above handles any urls not handled by routes.config and unhandled exceptions especially those encountered on the views. Notice I used aspx not html. This is so I can add a response code on the code behind.
2. Create a folder called Error (or whatever you prefer) at the root of your project and add the two webforms. Below is my 404
&%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="404.aspx.cs" Inherits="Myapp.Error._404" %&
&!DOCTYPE html&
&meta charset="utf-8" /&
&meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"&
&title &Page Not found&/title&
&link href="//q/&%=ResolveUrl("~/Content/myapp.css")%&" rel="stylesheet" /&
&div class="top-nav"&
&a runat="server" class="company-logo" href="//q/~/"&&/a&
&h1&404 - Page Not found&/h1&
&p&The page you are looking for cannot be found.&/p&
&footer&&/footer&
And on the code behind I set the response code
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
Response.StatusCode = 404;
Do the same for the 500 page
3.To handle errors within the controllers. There's many ways to do it. This is what worked for me. All my controllers inherit from a base controller. In the base controller, I have the following methods
protected ActionResult ShowNotFound()
return ShowNotFound("Page not found....");
protected ActionResult ShowNotFound(string message)
return ShowCustomError(HttpStatusCode.NotFound, message);
protected ActionResult ShowServerError()
return ShowServerError("Application error....");
protected ActionResult ShowServerError(string message)
return ShowCustomError(HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError, message);
protected ActionResult ShowNotAuthorized()
return ShowNotAuthorized("You are not allowed ....");
protected ActionResult ShowNotAuthorized(string message)
return ShowCustomError(HttpStatusCode.Forbidden, message);
protected ActionResult ShowCustomError(HttpStatusCode statusCode, string message)
Response.StatusCode = (int)statusC
string title = "";
switch (statusCode)
case HttpStatusCode.NotFound:
title = "404 - Not found";
case HttpStatusCode.Forbidden:
title = "403 - Access Denied";
title = "500 - Application Error";
ViewBag.Title =
ViewBag.Message =
return View("CustomError");
4.Add the CustomError.cshtml to your Shared views folder. B
&h1&@ViewBag.Title&/h1&
&p&@ViewBag.Message&/p&
Now in your application controller you can do
public class WidgetsController : ControllerBase
public ActionResult Edit(int id)
var widget = db.getWidgetById(id);
if(widget == null)
return ShowNotFound();
//or return ShowNotFound("Invalid widget!");
return View(widget);
catch(Exception ex)
//log error
logger.Error(ex)
return ShowServerError();
Now for the caveat.
It won't handle static file errors. So if you have a route such as </widgets and the user changes it to </widgets.html, they will get the IIS default error page so you have to handle IIS level errors some other way.
2,32421325
protected by &#9830;
Thank you for your interest in this question.
Because it has attracted low-quality or spam answers that had to be removed, posting an answer now requires 10
on this site (the ).
Would you like to answer one of these
Not the answer you&#39;re looking for?
Browse other questions tagged
Stack Overflow works best with JavaScript enabled}