Why should you care?

Clean URLs help users and SEO. Routing is how ASP.NET knows which C# method to execute for each link.

See it live — copy this example

Create an MVC project (dotnet new mvc), add the code, and run dotnet run.

// Program.cs
app.MapControllerRoute(
    name: "default",
    pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");

// Attribute routing on one action:
[HttpGet("/shop/sale")]
public IActionResult Sale() => View();

Run Example »

Edit the code and click Run — like W3Schools Try it Yourself.

What happened?

• Conventional routing uses {controller}/{action}/{id?} placeholders.
• Attribute routes like [Route("admin/[controller]")] override conventions for special URLs.

Try it yourself

1. Click links in the default template and watch URL segments change.
2. Add a new action Sale with [HttpGet("/shop/sale")].
3. Add id parameter to Details and log it with ViewData.
4. Change text or labels in the example and run again — watch the browser update.
5. Break the code on purpose (remove a semicolon), read the error message, then fix it.

Remember

Default pattern: {controller}/{action}/{id?}. Route parameters bind to action method parameters. Attribute routes for custom URLs like /shop/sale.