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ASP.NET MVC C# routes.MapRoute not working

I am altering an ASP.NET, MVC, C# application but a routes.MapRoute entry isn't working as expected. In my Global.asax.cs file I have the following two routes -
routes.MapRoute(
"MyRoute1", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{something}/{name}/{id}/{myParameterA}",
new { controller = "MyController", action = "MyActionA", category = "something", name = "name", id = "id", myParameterA = "myParameterA" });
routes.MapRoute(
"MyRoute2", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{something}/{name}/{id}/{myParameterB}",
new { controller = "MyController", action = "MyActionB", category = "something", name = "name", id = "id", myParameterB = UrlParameter.Optional } );
The code in my controller looks like this -
public ActionResult MyActionA(string something, string name, string id, string myParameterA)
{
//do cool stuff!
}
public ActionResult MyActionB(string something, string name, string id, string myParameterB)
{
//do awesome stuff!
}
When I call MyActionB, the final parameter myParameterB is coming into the Controller as null even when the parameter is in the URL - (example: /MyController/MyActionB/aThing/aName/123/456).
I do want the final parameter ('456' in my above example) to be optional.
MyActionA is working fine.
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Also, is there a good reference out there on how routes.MapRoute works?
Thank you!

This is because there is nothing to distinguish between those 2 routes once you replace the parameters with strings in the route itself. If you add a static part to the routes you should be able to differentiate between them.
routes.MapRoute(
"MyRoute1", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{something}/{name}/{id}/firstroute/{myParameterA}",
new { controller = "MyController", action = "MyActionA", category = "something", name = "name", id = "id", myParameterA = "myParameterA" });
routes.MapRoute(
"MyRoute2", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{something}/{name}/{id}/secondroute/{myParameterB}",
new { controller = "MyController", action = "MyActionB", category = "something", name = "name", id = "id", myParameterB = UrlParameter.Optional } );
See if that works.

Not sure but I think swap the two around, when you set "myParameterA = "myParameterA"" on the first, you're assigning a default value, when you pass /MyController/MyActionB/aThing/aName/123/456 the url is mapped to the first, but the number 456 is not compatible with the default string value - and so is passed as null.
EDIT: oh and for a good reference, the Apress Pro MVC 3 has an excellent chapter on this - Safari Informit.

ASP.NET MVC routing with one mandatory parameter and one optional parameter?

I've been working on a large MVC application over the past month or so, but this is the first time I've ever needed to define a custom route handler, and I'm running into some problems. Basically I have two parameters to pass. The first one is required and the second one is optional.
I'm following this answer here.
Here is my custom route:
routes.MapRoute(
"MyRoute",
"{controller}/{action}/{param1}/{param2}",
new {
controller = "MyController",
action = "MyAction",
param1 = "",
param2 = "" // I have also tried "UrlParameter.Optional" here.
}
);
And my action method signature:
public ActionResult MyAction(string param1, string param2)
If I try the URL http://[myserver]/MyController/MyAction/Test1/Test2 then it works like I expect it to, with param1 = "Test1" and param2 = "Test2"
If I try the URL http://[myserver]/MyController/MyAction/Test1 then both parameters are null.
Hopefully somebody can tell me what I'm doing wrong here, because I'm lost.

I assume that you created new route and left the default one that is very similar to yours. You should be aware that collection of routes is traversed to find first matching route. So if you have left the default one:
routes.MapRoute(
"Default", // Route name
"{controller}/{action}/{id}", // URL with parameters
new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
);
above your route then it will match request to http://[myserver]/My/MyAction/Test1 and call MyController.MyAction and set "Text1" to parameter named id. Which will fail because this action is not declaring one named id.
What you need to do is to move your route as first in routes list and make it more specific then it is now:
routes.MapRoute(
"Route",
"My/{action}/{param1}/{param2}",
new
{
controller = "My",
action = "MyAction",
param1 = "",
param2 = ""
});
This will force all traffic routed trough My to match this route.

hi you create your rout like this i think this will hep you
routes.MapRoute(
"Regis", // Route nameRegister
"Artical/{id}", // URL with parameters
new { controller = "Artical", action = "Show", id = UrlParameter.Optional } // Parameter defaults
);

Try this
routes.MapRoute("MyRoute",
"myRoute/{param1 }/{param2 }",
new { controller = "MyController", action = "MyAction", param2 = UrlParameter.Optional },
new { param2 = #"\w+" });
you can specify one parameter as optional by using "UrlParameter.Optional" and specified second one with DataType means if you pass integer value then DataType (#"\d+") and for string i have mention above.
NOTE: Sequence of parameter is very important Optional parameter must pass at last and register your new route Before Default Route In Gloab.asax.
then you action link like
Test
OR with one parameter
Test
In you Controller
public ActionResult MyAction(string param2,string param1)
{
return View()
}

asp.net mvc routing different actions on the same controller

I have a controller named Raportare that has two actions: ReportA and ReportB.
Both return an excel file based on the parameters supplied.
public ActionResult ReportA(int? month, int? year)
{
...
}
public ActionResult ReportB(int? month, int? year)
{
...
}
My global.asax has the following routing rules for this :
routes.MapRoute(
"ReportA",
"{Raportare}/{ReportA}/{month}/{year}",
new { controller = "Raportare", action = "ReportA", month = UrlParameter.Optional, year = UrlParameter.Optional});
routes.MapRoute(
"ReportB",
"{Raportare}/{ReportB}/{month}/{year}",
new { controller = "Raportare", action = "ReportB", month = UrlParameter.Optional, year = UrlParameter.Optional });
However when I go mysite.com/Raportare/ReportB/5/2012 it's returning the ReportA file.
It works fine if I go to mysite.com/Raportare/ReportB?month=5&year=2012.
Probably I'm doing something wrong in the routing rules but I can't figure it out.

You don't need to add a route for every action - they work like templates and the 3rd parameter is just default values.
routes.MapRoute(
"reports",
"Raportare/{action}/{month}/{year}",
new {
controller = "Raportare",
action = "ReportA",
month = UrlParameter.Optional,
year = UrlParameter.Optional
}
);
Put this before your default rule in Global.asax.cs, otherwise the default might match first.
Then mysite.com/Raportare/ReportB/5/2012 will invoke the ReportB action because it has been specified in the url.
mysite.com/Raportare will invoke ReportA, because it is the default action.

The routes you've created are basically the same. That's why the first one which matches request string succeeds and first action gets invoked.

routes.MapRoute() results in 404 Not Found

Why would this route result in 404 Not Found when hitting url /users/3 to call upon the route with a page number only in ASP.NET MVC:
routes.MapRoute(
"Users", // Route name
"users/{page}/{sortColumn}/{sortDirection}", // URL with parameters
new { controller = "User", action = "Index", page = UrlParameter.Optional, sortColumn = UrlParameter.Optional, sortDirection = UrlParameter.Optional }, // Parameter defaults
new { page = #"\d+", sortColumn = #"[\w-]+", sortDirection = #"asc|desc" } // Route constraints
);
Shouldn't it be okay for me to load the route simply with the page parameter specified, as the sortColumn and sortDirection parameters are both set to UrlParameter.Optional?
Update:
Ok after digging up another StackOverflow answer on a similar topic, it appears if you choose to have an optional route, the constraint must also be optional. So changing my route constraints to:
new { page = #"\d*", sortColumn = #"[\w-]*", sortDirection = #"(asc|desc)?" }
which simply tests for zero or more matches makes my pages load up on all accounts.
However, if I try to make a route link that reflects that (#Html.RouteLink("test 2", "Users", new { page = 2 })), the hyperlink is generated as /users not /users/2! Strange thing though, if I manually hit /users/2 then the RouteLink is written as /users/2 lol Argh! :)
Perhaps I do have to make separate routes, but this is really not desirable as I don't want to have to call upon differently named routes in Html.RouteLink()....
Thoughts?

Because you provide two parameters, but it expects 3 optional ones.. so it does not know which one is missing ...
In general you cannot use two consecutive optional parameters.
References
http://weblogs.asp.net/imranbaloch/archive/2010/12/26/routing-issue-in-asp-net-mvc-3-rc-2.aspx
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/630568/url-routing-with-two-optional-parameters-unspecified-fails-on-asp-net-mvc3-rc2

C#3.5 MVC2 routing skip optional param

Here I have:
routes.MapRoute(
"test", // Route name
"DataWarehouse/Distribution/{category}/{serialNo}",
new { controller = "DataWarehouse",
action = "Distribution",
category= UrlParameter.Optional,
serialNo = UrlParameter.Optional }
);
Category and serialNo are both optional params. When the routing is like: DataWarehouse/Distribution/123, it always treat 123 as the value for category.
My question is how I can make it to know the 1st param could be either category or serialNo, i.e. DataWarehouse/Distribution/{category} and DataWarehouse/Distribution/{serialNo}.

DataWarehouse/Distribution/{category}/{serialNo}
Only the last parameter can be optional. In this example category cannot be optional for obvious reasons.

If you know what your parameters will look like you can add a route constraint to differentiate both routes
Ex if your serial are 1234-1234-1234 and your category are not like this:
routes.MapRoute(
"serialonly", // Route name
"DataWarehouse/Distribution/{serialNo}",
new { controller = "DataWarehouse",
action = "Distribution",
category= UrlParameter.Optional,
serialNo = UrlParameter.Optional },
new{serialNo = #"\d{4}-\d{4}-\d{4}"}
);
routes.MapRoute(
"test", // Route name
"DataWarehouse/Distribution/{category}/{serialNo}",
new { controller = "DataWarehouse",
action = "Distribution",
category= UrlParameter.Optional,
serialNo = UrlParameter.Optional },
,
new{serialNo = #"\d{4}-\d{4}-\d{4}"}
);

I had a similar problem, i was trying to route based on data ({year}/{month}/{day}) where month or day could be optional. What I found was that I couldn't do it with a single route. So I solved it by using 3 routes, from generic to specific (year, year and month, year and month and day). I am not completely pleased with it, but it works.
So provided that you are looking for DataWarehouse/Distribution/{category} and DataWarehouse/Distribution/{category}/{serialNo} routes, i think this would work for you.