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ASP.NET query string

last modified October 18, 2023

In this article we show how to work with query strings in ASP.NET.

ASP.NET is a cross-platform, high-performance, open-source framework for building modern, cloud-enabled, web applications. It is developed by Microsoft.

Query strings

Query strings or query parameters are the part of a uniform resource locator (URL) which assigns values to specified parameters. This is one way of sending data to the destination server. 

http://example.com/api/users?name=John%20Doe&occupation=gardener

The query parameters are specified after the ? character. Multiple fields are separated with the &. Special characters, such as spaces, are encoded. In the above string, the space is encoded with the %20 value

ASP.NET query string example

In the first example, we get the query strings via the HttpRequest. HttpRequest represents the incoming side of an individual HTTP request.

Program.cs 
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGet("/", (HttpRequest request) =>
{
    string name = request.Query["name"];
    string occupation = request.Query["occupation"];
    string msg = $"{name} is a {occupation}\n";

    return Results.Content(msg);
});

app.Run("http://localhost:3000");

In the example, we get two query strings via the HttpRequest. 

string name = request.Query["name"];

We get the name query parameter using the Query property of the request object. 

$ curl 'localhost:3000?name=John%20Doe&occupation=gardener'
John Doe is a gardener

Explicit binding with FromQuery

It is possible to explicitly bind query parameters utilizing the FromQuery attribute.

Program.cs 
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGet("/", ([FromQuery(Name = "name")] string? name,
                 [FromQuery(Name = "occupation")] string? occupation) =>
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(name) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(occupation))
    {
        return Results.BadRequest("bad request");
    }

    string msg = $"{name} is a {occupation}\n";
    return Results.Content(msg);
});

app.Run("http://localhost:3000");

In the example, we explicitly bind two query parameters to two variables. In addition, the query strings are mandatory. 

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(name) || string.IsNullOrEmpty(occupation))
{
    return Results.BadRequest("bad request");
}

If we do not receive values for the two parameters, we send a bad request back to the client. 

$ curl 'localhost:3000?name=Roger%20Roe&occupation=driver'
Roger Roe is a driver

For a correct request with all query parameters, we get a response. 

$ curl 'localhost:3000?name=Roger%20Roe'
"bad request"

Since we did not provide the second parameter, we have received a bad request response.

Automatic binding of query parameters

ASP.NET automatically binds query, form, and path parameters to types.

Program.cs 
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGet("/", (string name, string occupation) =>
{
    string msg = $"{name} is a {occupation}\n";
    return Results.Content(msg);
});

app.Run("http://localhost:3000");

In the example, we ASP.NET automatically binds the query parameters to the name and occupation variables. 

$ curl 'localhost:3000?name=Roger%20Roe&occupation=driver'
Roger Roe is a driver

Query parameters in a view

We can get query parameters in a view via @Context.Request.Query.

Program.cs 
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseRouting();
app.UseEndpoints(endppoints =>
{
    endppoints.MapDefaultControllerRoute();
});

app.Run("http://localhost:3000");

We set up an ASP.NET application with controllers and views.

Controllers/Home/HomeController.cs 
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace QueryStringEx.Controllers;

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    [HttpGet("/")]
    public IActionResult Home()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

In the controller, we have a single mapping that returns a view for the home page.

Views/Home/Home.cshtml 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Home page</title>
</head>
<body>

    <p>
        @Context.Request.Query["name"] is a @Context.Request.Query["occupation"]
    </p>
    
</body>
</html>

In the view, we refer to two query parameters. 

$ curl 'localhost:3000?name=Roger%20Roe&occupation=driver'
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Home page</title>
</head>
<body>

    <p>
        Roger Roe is a driver
    </p>
    
</body>

We create a GET request with two query parameters and receive an HTML output.

In this article we worked with query strings in ASP.NET.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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