Edit

ASP.NET Core Blazor routing and navigation

  • Article

Note

This isn't the latest version of this article. For the current release, see the .NET 7 version of this article.

Important

This information relates to a pre-release product that may be substantially modified before it's commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.

For the current release, see the .NET 7 version of this article.

This article explains how to manage Blazor app request routing and how to use the NavLink component to create navigation links.

Throughout this article, the terms client/client-side and server/server-side are used to distinguish locations where app code executes:

  • Client/client-side
    • Interactive client rendering of a Blazor Web App. The Program file is Program.cs of the client project (.Client). Blazor script start configuration is found in the App component (Components/App.razor) of the server project. Routable WebAssembly and Auto render mode components with an @page directive are placed in the client project's Pages folder. Place non-routable shared components at the root of the .Client project or in custom folders based on component functionality.
    • A Blazor WebAssembly app. The Program file is Program.cs. Blazor script start configuration is found in the wwwroot/index.html file.
  • Server/server-side: Interactive server rendering of a Blazor Web App. The Program file is Program.cs of the server project. Blazor script start configuration is found in the App component (Components/App.razor). Only routable Server render mode components with an @page directive are placed in the Components/Pages folder. Non-routable shared components are placed in the server project's Components folder. Create custom folders based on component functionality as needed.
  • Client/client-side
    • The Client project of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • A Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • Blazor script start configuration is found in the wwwroot/index.html file.
    • The Program file is Program.cs.
  • Server/server-side
    • The Server project of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • A Blazor Server app. Blazor script start configuration is found in Pages/_Host.cshtml.
    • The Program file is Program.cs.
  • Client/client-side
    • The Client project of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • A Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • Blazor script start configuration is found in the wwwroot/index.html file.
    • The Program file is Program.cs.
  • Server/server-side
    • The Server project of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • A Blazor Server app. Blazor script start configuration is found in Pages/_Layout.cshtml.
    • The Program file is Program.cs.
  • Client/client-side
    • The Client project of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • A Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • Blazor script start configuration is found in the wwwroot/index.html file.
    • The Program file is Program.cs.
  • Server/server-side
    • The Server project of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app.
    • A Blazor Server app. Blazor script start configuration is found in Pages/_Host.cshtml.
    • The Program file is Program.cs.

Important

Code examples throughout this article show methods called on Navigation, which is an injected NavigationManager in classes and components.

Route templates

The Router component enables routing to Razor components and is located in the app's Routes component (Components/Routes.razor).

The Router component enables routing to Razor components. The Router component is used in the App component (App.razor).

When a Razor component (.razor) with an @page directive is compiled, the generated component class is provided a RouteAttribute specifying the component's route template.

When the app starts, the assembly specified as the Router's AppAssembly is scanned to gather route information for the app's components that have a RouteAttribute.

At runtime, the RouteView component:

  • Receives the RouteData from the Router along with any route parameters.
  • Renders the specified component with its layout, including any further nested layouts.

Optionally specify a DefaultLayout parameter with a layout class for components that don't specify a layout with the @layout directive. The framework's Blazor project templates specify the MainLayout component (MainLayout.razor) as the app's default layout. For more information on layouts, see ASP.NET Core Blazor layouts.

Components support multiple route templates using multiple @page directives. The following example component loads on requests for /blazor-route and /different-blazor-route.

BlazorRoute.razor:

@page "/blazor-route"
@page "/different-blazor-route"

<h1>Blazor routing</h1>

@page "/blazor-route"
@page "/different-blazor-route"

<h1>Blazor routing</h1>

@page "/blazor-route"
@page "/different-blazor-route"

<h1>Blazor routing</h1>

@page "/blazor-route"
@page "/different-blazor-route"

<h1>Blazor routing</h1>

Important

For URLs to resolve correctly, the app must include a <base> tag (location of <head> content) with the app base path specified in the href attribute. For more information, see Host and deploy ASP.NET Core Blazor.

The Router doesn't interact with query string values. To work with query strings, see the Query strings section.

As an alternative to specifying the route template as a string literal with the @page directive, constant-based route templates can be specified with the @attribute directive.

In the following example, the @page directive in a component is replaced with the @attribute directive and the constant-based route template in Constants.CounterRoute, which is set elsewhere in the app to "/counter":

- @page "/counter"
+ @attribute [Route(Constants.CounterRoute)]

Note

With the release of ASP.NET Core 5.0.1 and for any additional 5.x releases, the Router component includes the PreferExactMatches parameter set to @true. For more information, see Migrate from ASP.NET Core 3.1 to 5.0.

Focus an element on navigation

The FocusOnNavigate component sets the UI focus to an element based on a CSS selector after navigating from one page to another.

<FocusOnNavigate RouteData="@routeData" Selector="h1" />

When the Router component navigates to a new page, the FocusOnNavigate component sets the focus to the page's top-level header (<h1>). This is a common strategy for ensuring that a page navigation is announced when using a screen reader.

Provide custom content when content isn't found

This section only applies to Blazor WebAssembly apps. Blazor Web Apps don't use the NotFound template (<NotFound>...</NotFound>), but the template is supported for backward compatibility to avoid a breaking change in the framework. Blazor Web Apps typically process bad URL requests by either displaying the browser's built-in 404 UI or returning a custom 404 page from the ASP.NET Core server via ASP.NET Core middleware (for example, UseStatusCodePagesWithRedirects / API documentation).

The Router component allows the app to specify custom content if content isn't found for the requested route.

Set custom content in the Router component's NotFound template:

<Router ...>
    ...
    <NotFound>
        ...
    </NotFound>
</Router>

Arbitrary items are supported as content of the <NotFound> tags, such as other interactive components. To apply a default layout to NotFound content, see ASP.NET Core Blazor layouts.

Route to components from multiple assemblies

Use the AdditionalAssemblies parameter to specify additional assemblies for the Router component to consider when searching for routable components. Additional assemblies are scanned in addition to the assembly specified to AppAssembly. In the following example, Component1 is a routable component defined in a referenced component class library. The following AdditionalAssemblies example results in routing support for Component1.

<Router
    AppAssembly="@typeof(App).Assembly"
    AdditionalAssemblies="new[] { typeof(Component1).Assembly }">
    @* ... Router component elements ... *@
</Router>

<Router
    AppAssembly="@typeof(Program).Assembly"
    AdditionalAssemblies="new[] { typeof(Component1).Assembly }">
    @* ... Router component elements ... *@
</Router>

Route parameters

The router uses route parameters to populate the corresponding component parameters with the same name. Route parameter names are case insensitive. In the following example, the text parameter assigns the value of the route segment to the component's Text property. When a request is made for /route-parameter-1/amazing, the <h1> tag content is rendered as Blazor is amazing!.

RouteParameter1.razor:

@page "/route-parameter-1/{text}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? Text { get; set; }
}

@page "/route-parameter-1/{text}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? Text { get; set; }
}

@page "/route-parameter-1/{text}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string Text { get; set; }
}

@page "/route-parameter-1/{text}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string Text { get; set; }
}

Optional parameters are supported. In the following example, the text optional parameter assigns the value of the route segment to the component's Text property. If the segment isn't present, the value of Text is set to fantastic.

Optional parameters aren't supported. In the following example, two @page directives are applied. The first directive permits navigation to the component without a parameter. The second directive assigns the {text} route parameter value to the component's Text property.

RouteParameter2.razor:

@page "/route-parameter-2/{text?}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? Text { get; set; }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Text = Text ?? "fantastic";
    }
}

@page "/route-parameter-2/{text?}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? Text { get; set; }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Text = Text ?? "fantastic";
    }
}

@page "/route-parameter-2/{text?}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string Text { get; set; }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Text = Text ?? "fantastic";
    }
}

@page "/route-parameter-2"
@page "/route-parameter-2/{text}"

<h1>Blazor is @Text!</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string Text { get; set; }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Text = Text ?? "fantastic";
    }
}

Use OnParametersSet instead of OnInitialized{Async} to permit app navigation to the same component with a different optional parameter value. Based on the preceding example, use OnParametersSet when the user should be able to navigate from /route-parameter-2 to /route-parameter-2/amazing or from /route-parameter-2/amazing to /route-parameter-2:

protected override void OnParametersSet()
{
    Text = Text ?? "fantastic";
}

Note

Route parameters don't work with query string values. To work with query strings, see the Query strings section.

Route constraints

A route constraint enforces type matching on a route segment to a component.

In the following example, the route to the User component only matches if:

  • An Id route segment is present in the request URL.
  • The Id segment is an integer (int) type.

User.razor:

@page "/user/{Id:int}"

<h1>User Id: @Id</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public int Id { get; set; }
}

@page "/user/{Id:int}"

<h1>User Id: @Id</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public int Id { get; set; }
}

@page "/user/{Id:int}"

<h1>User Id: @Id</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public int Id { get; set; }
}

@page "/user/{Id:int}"

<h1>User Id: @Id</h1>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public int Id { get; set; }
}

Note

Route constraints don't work with query string values. To work with query strings, see the Query strings section.

The route constraints shown in the following table are available. For the route constraints that match the invariant culture, see the warning below the table for more information.

Constraint Example Example Matches Invariant
culture
matching
bool {active:bool} true, FALSE No
datetime {dob:datetime} 2016-12-31, 2016-12-31 7:32pm Yes
decimal {price:decimal} 49.99, -1,000.01 Yes
double {weight:double} 1.234, -1,001.01e8 Yes
float {weight:float} 1.234, -1,001.01e8 Yes
guid {id:guid} CD2C1638-1638-72D5-1638-DEADBEEF1638, {CD2C1638-1638-72D5-1638-DEADBEEF1638} No
int {id:int} 123456789, -123456789 Yes
long {ticks:long} 123456789, -123456789 Yes

Warning

Route constraints that verify the URL and are converted to a CLR type (such as int or DateTime) always use the invariant culture. These constraints assume that the URL is non-localizable.

Route constraints also work with optional parameters. In the following example, Id is required, but Option is an optional boolean route parameter.

User.razor:

@page "/user/{Id:int}/{Option:bool?}"

<p>
    Id: @Id
</p>

<p>
    Option: @Option
</p>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public int Id { get; set; }

    [Parameter]
    public bool Option { get; set; }
}

Routing with URLs that contain dots

A server-side default route template assumes that if the last segment of a request URL contains a dot (.) that a file is requested. For example, the relative URL /example/some.thing is interpreted by the router as a request for a file named some.thing. Without additional configuration, an app returns a 404 - Not Found response if some.thing was meant to route to a component with an @page directive and some.thing is a route parameter value. To use a route with one or more parameters that contain a dot, the app must configure the route with a custom template.

Consider the following Example component that can receive a route parameter from the last segment of the URL.

Example.razor:

@page "/example/{param?}"

<p>
    Param: @Param
</p>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? Param { get; set; }
}

@page "/example/{param?}"

<p>
    Param: @Param
</p>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? Param { get; set; }
}

@page "/example/{param?}"

<p>
    Param: @Param
</p>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string Param { get; set; }
}

@page "/example"
@page "/example/{param}"

<p>
    Param: @Param
</p>

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string Param { get; set; }
}

For server-side configuration that routes requests with a dot in the param route parameter, add a fallback page route template with the optional parameter in the Program file:

app.MapFallbackToPage("/example/{param?}", "/");

To permit the Server app of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly solution to route the request with a dot in the param route parameter, add a fallback file route template with the optional parameter in the Program file:

app.MapFallbackToFile("/example/{param?}", "index.html");

To configure a Blazor Server app to route the request with a dot in the param route parameter, add a fallback page route template with the optional parameter in the Program file:

app.MapFallbackToPage("/example/{param?}", "/_Host");

To permit the Server app of a hosted Blazor WebAssembly solution to route the request with a dot in the param route parameter, add a fallback file route template with the optional parameter in Startup.Configure.

Startup.cs:

endpoints.MapFallbackToFile("/example/{param?}", "index.html");

To configure a Blazor Server app to route the request with a dot in the param route parameter, add a fallback page route template with the optional parameter in Startup.Configure.

Startup.cs:

endpoints.MapFallbackToPage("/example/{param?}", "/_Host");

For more information, see Routing in ASP.NET Core.

Catch-all route parameters

Catch-all route parameters, which capture paths across multiple folder boundaries, are supported in components.

Catch-all route parameters are:

  • Named to match the route segment name. Naming isn't case-sensitive.
  • A string type. The framework doesn't provide automatic casting.
  • At the end of the URL.

CatchAll.razor:

@page "/catch-all/{*pageRoute}"

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? PageRoute { get; set; }
}

@page "/catch-all/{*pageRoute}"

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string? PageRoute { get; set; }
}

@page "/catch-all/{*pageRoute}"

@code {
    [Parameter]
    public string PageRoute { get; set; }
}

For the URL /catch-all/this/is/a/test with a route template of /catch-all/{*pageRoute}, the value of PageRoute is set to this/is/a/test.

Slashes and segments of the captured path are decoded. For a route template of /catch-all/{*pageRoute}, the URL /catch-all/this/is/a%2Ftest%2A yields this/is/a/test*.

URI and navigation state helpers

Use NavigationManager to manage URIs and navigation in C# code. NavigationManager provides the event and methods shown in the following table.

Member Description
Uri Gets the current absolute URI.
BaseUri Gets the base URI (with a trailing slash) that can be prepended to relative URI paths to produce an absolute URI. Typically, BaseUri corresponds to the href attribute on the document's <base> element (location of <head> content).
NavigateTo Navigates to the specified URI. If forceLoad is false:
  • And enhanced navigation is available at the current URL, Blazor's enhanced navigation is activated.
  • Otherwise, Blazor performs a full-page reload for the requested URL.
If forceLoad is true:
  • Client-side routing is bypassed.
  • The browser is forced to load the new page from the server, whether or not the URI is normally handled by the client-side interactive router.

For more information, see the Enhanced navigation and form handling section.

If replace is true, the current URI in the browser history is replaced instead of pushing a new URI onto the history stack.
LocationChanged An event that fires when the navigation location has changed. For more information, see the Location changes section.
ToAbsoluteUri Converts a relative URI into an absolute URI.
ToBaseRelativePath Based on the app's base URI, converts an absolute URI into a URI relative to the base URI prefix. For an example, see the Produce a URI relative to the base URI prefix section.
RegisterLocationChangingHandler Registers a handler to process incoming navigation events. Calling NavigateTo always invokes the handler.
GetUriWithQueryParameter Returns a URI constructed by updating NavigationManager.Uri with a single parameter added, updated, or removed. For more information, see the Query strings section.
Member Description
Uri Gets the current absolute URI.
BaseUri Gets the base URI (with a trailing slash) that can be prepended to relative URI paths to produce an absolute URI. Typically, BaseUri corresponds to the href attribute on the document's <base> element (location of <head> content).
NavigateTo Navigates to the specified URI. If forceLoad is true:
  • Client-side routing is bypassed.
  • The browser is forced to load the new page from the server, whether or not the URI is normally handled by the client-side router.
If replace is true, the current URI in the browser history is replaced instead of pushing a new URI onto the history stack.
LocationChanged An event that fires when the navigation location has changed. For more information, see the Location changes section.
ToAbsoluteUri Converts a relative URI into an absolute URI.
ToBaseRelativePath Based on the app's base URI, converts an absolute URI into a URI relative to the base URI prefix. For an example, see the Produce a URI relative to the base URI prefix section.
RegisterLocationChangingHandler Registers a handler to process incoming navigation events. Calling NavigateTo always invokes the handler.
GetUriWithQueryParameter Returns a URI constructed by updating NavigationManager.Uri with a single parameter added, updated, or removed. For more information, see the Query strings section.
Member Description
Uri Gets the current absolute URI.
BaseUri Gets the base URI (with a trailing slash) that can be prepended to relative URI paths to produce an absolute URI. Typically, BaseUri corresponds to the href attribute on the document's <base> element (location of <head> content).
NavigateTo Navigates to the specified URI. If forceLoad is true:
  • Client-side routing is bypassed.
  • The browser is forced to load the new page from the server, whether or not the URI is normally handled by the client-side router.
If replace is true, the current URI in the browser history is replaced instead of pushing a new URI onto the history stack.
LocationChanged An event that fires when the navigation location has changed. For more information, see the Location changes section.
ToAbsoluteUri Converts a relative URI into an absolute URI.
ToBaseRelativePath Based on the app's base URI, converts an absolute URI into a URI relative to the base URI prefix. For an example, see the Produce a URI relative to the base URI prefix section.
GetUriWithQueryParameter Returns a URI constructed by updating NavigationManager.Uri with a single parameter added, updated, or removed. For more information, see the Query strings section.
Member Description
Uri Gets the current absolute URI.
BaseUri Gets the base URI (with a trailing slash) that can be prepended to relative URI paths to produce an absolute URI. Typically, BaseUri corresponds to the href attribute on the document's <base> element (location of <head> content).
NavigateTo Navigates to the specified URI. If forceLoad is true:
  • Client-side routing is bypassed.
  • The browser is forced to load the new page from the server, whether or not the URI is normally handled by the client-side router.
LocationChanged An event that fires when the navigation location has changed.
ToAbsoluteUri Converts a relative URI into an absolute URI.
ToBaseRelativePath Based on the app's base URI, converts an absolute URI into a URI relative to the base URI prefix. For an example, see the Produce a URI relative to the base URI prefix section.

Enhanced navigation and form handling

This section applies to Blazor Web Apps.

Blazor Web Apps are capable of two types of routing for page navigation and form handling requests:

  • Normal navigation (cross-document navigation): a full-page reload is triggered for the request URL.
  • Enhanced navigation (same-document navigation)†: Blazor intercepts the request and performs a fetch request instead. Blazor then patches the response content into the page's DOM. Blazor's enhanced navigation and form handling avoid the need for a full-page reload and preserves more of the page state, so pages load faster, usually without losing the user's scroll position on the page.

†Enhanced navigation is available when:

  • The Blazor Web App script (blazor.web.js) is used, not the Blazor Server script (blazor.server.js) or Blazor WebAssembly script (blazor.webassembly.js).
  • The feature isn't explicitly disabled.
  • The destination URL is within the internal base URI space (the app's base path).

If enhanced navigation is available for interactive client routing, navigation always goes through the interactive client-side router. This point is only relevant in an uncommon scenario where an interactive <Router> is nested inside a server-side rendered <Router>. In that case, the interactive router takes priority when handling navigation, so enhanced navigation isn't used for navigation because it's a server-side routing feature.

When calling NavigateTo:

  • If forceLoad is false, which is the default:
    • And enhanced navigation is available at the current URL, Blazor's enhanced navigation is activated.
    • Otherwise, Blazor performs a full-page reload for the requested URL.
  • If forceLoad is true: Blazor performs a full-page reload for the requested URL, whether enhanced navigation is available or not.

You can refresh the current page by calling NavigationManager.Refresh(bool forceLoad = false), which always performs an enhanced navigation, if available. If enhanced navigation isn't available, Blazor performs a full-page reload.

Navigation.Refresh();

Pass true to the forceLoad parameter to ensure a full-page reload is always performed, even if enhanced navigation is available:

Navigation.Refresh(true);

To disable enhanced navigation and form handling, see ASP.NET Core Blazor startup.

Produce a URI relative to the base URI prefix

Based on the app's base URI, ToBaseRelativePath converts an absolute URI into a URI relative to the base URI prefix.

Consider the following example:

try
{
    baseRelativePath = Navigation.ToBaseRelativePath(inputURI);
}
catch (ArgumentException ex)
{
    ...
}

If the base URI of the app is https://localhost:8000, the following results are obtained:

  • Passing https://localhost:8000/segment in inputURI results in a baseRelativePath of segment.
  • Passing https://localhost:8000/segment1/segment2 in inputURI results in a baseRelativePath of segment1/segment2.

If the base URI of the app doesn't match the base URI of inputURI, an ArgumentException is thrown.

Passing https://localhost:8001/segment in inputURI results in the following exception:

System.ArgumentException: 'The URI 'https://localhost:8001/segment' is not contained by the base URI 'https://localhost:8000/'.'

Location changes

For the LocationChanged event, LocationChangedEventArgs provides the following information about navigation events:

The following component:

  • Navigates to the app's Counter component (Counter.razor) when the button is selected using NavigateTo.
  • Handles the location changed event by subscribing to NavigationManager.LocationChanged.

    • The HandleLocationChanged method is unhooked when Dispose is called by the framework. Unhooking the method permits garbage collection of the component.

    • The logger implementation logs the following information when the button is selected:

      BlazorSample.Pages.Navigate: Information: URL of new location: https://localhost:{PORT}/counter

Navigate.razor:

@page "/navigate"
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging 
@implements IDisposable
@inject ILogger<Navigate> Logger
@inject NavigationManager Navigation

<h1>Navigate in component code example</h1>

<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="NavigateToCounterComponent">
    Navigate to the Counter component
</button>

@code {
    private void NavigateToCounterComponent()
    {
        Navigation.NavigateTo("counter");
    }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged += HandleLocationChanged;
    }

    private void HandleLocationChanged(object? sender, LocationChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        Logger.LogInformation("URL of new location: {Location}", e.Location);
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged -= HandleLocationChanged;
    }
}

@page "/navigate"
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging 
@implements IDisposable
@inject ILogger<Navigate> Logger
@inject NavigationManager Navigation

<h1>Navigate in component code example</h1>

<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="NavigateToCounterComponent">
    Navigate to the Counter component
</button>

@code {
    private void NavigateToCounterComponent()
    {
        Navigation.NavigateTo("counter");
    }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged += HandleLocationChanged;
    }

    private void HandleLocationChanged(object? sender, LocationChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        Logger.LogInformation("URL of new location: {Location}", e.Location);
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged -= HandleLocationChanged;
    }
}

@page "/navigate"
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging 
@implements IDisposable
@inject ILogger<Navigate> Logger
@inject NavigationManager Navigation

<h1>Navigate in component code example</h1>

<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="NavigateToCounterComponent">
    Navigate to the Counter component
</button>

@code {
    private void NavigateToCounterComponent()
    {
        Navigation.NavigateTo("counter");
    }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged += HandleLocationChanged;
    }

    private void HandleLocationChanged(object sender, LocationChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        Logger.LogInformation("URL of new location: {Location}", e.Location);
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged -= HandleLocationChanged;
    }
}

@page "/navigate"
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging 
@implements IDisposable
@inject ILogger<Navigate> Logger
@inject NavigationManager Navigation

<h1>Navigate in component code example</h1>

<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="NavigateToCounterComponent">
    Navigate to the Counter component
</button>

@code {
    private void NavigateToCounterComponent()
    {
        Navigation.NavigateTo("counter");
    }

    protected override void OnInitialized()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged += HandleLocationChanged;
    }

    private void HandleLocationChanged(object sender, LocationChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        Logger.LogInformation("URL of new location: {Location}", e.Location);
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        Navigation.LocationChanged -= HandleLocationChanged;
    }
}

For more information on component disposal, see ASP.NET Core Razor component lifecycle.

The NavigationManager uses the browser's History API to maintain navigation history state associated with each location change made by the app. Maintaining history state is particularly useful in external redirect scenarios, such as when authenticating users with external identity providers. For more information, see the Navigation options section.

Pass NavigationOptions to NavigateTo to control the following behaviors:

  • ForceLoad: Bypass client-side routing and force the browser to load the new page from the server, whether or not the URI is handled by the client-side router. The default value is false.
  • ReplaceHistoryEntry: Replace the current entry in the history stack. If false, append the new entry to the history stack. The default value is false.
  • HistoryEntryState: Gets or sets the state to append to the history entry.
Navigation.NavigateTo("/path", new NavigationOptions
{
    HistoryEntryState = "Navigation state"
});

For more information on obtaining the state associated with the target history entry while handling location changes, see the Handle/prevent location changes section.

Query strings

Use the [SupplyParameterFromQuery] attribute to specify that a component parameter comes from the query string.

Use the [SupplyParameterFromQuery] attribute with the [Parameter] attribute to specify that a component parameter of a routable component comes from the query string.

Note

Component parameters can only receive query parameter values in routable components with an @page directive.

Only routable components directly receive query parameters in order to avoid subverting top-down information flow and to make parameter processing order clear, both by the framework and by the app. This design avoids subtle bugs in app code that was written assuming a specific parameter processing order. You're free to define custom cascading parameters or directly assign to regular component parameters in order to pass query parameter values to non-routable components.

Component parameters supplied from the query string support the following types:

  • bool, DateTime, decimal, double, float, Guid, int, long, string.
  • Nullable variants of the preceding types.
  • Arrays of the preceding types, whether they're nullable or not nullable.

The correct culture-invariant formatting is applied for the given type (CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).

Specify the [SupplyParameterFromQuery] attribute's Name property to use a query parameter name different from the component parameter name. In the following example, the C# name of the component parameter is {COMPONENT PARAMETER NAME}. A different query parameter name is specified for the {QUERY PARAMETER NAME} placeholder:

[SupplyParameterFromQuery(Name = "{QUERY PARAMETER NAME}")]
public string? {COMPONENT PARAMETER NAME} { get; set; }

[Parameter]
[SupplyParameterFromQuery(Name = "{QUERY PARAMETER NAME}")]
public string? {COMPONENT PARAMETER NAME} { get; set; }

In the following example with a URL of /search?filter=scifi%20stars&page=3&star=LeVar%20Burton&star=Gary%20Oldman:

  • The Filter property resolves to scifi stars.
  • The Page property resolves to 3.
  • The Stars array is filled from query parameters named star (Name = "star") and resolves to LeVar Burton and Gary Oldman.

Note

The query string parameters in the following routable page component also work in a non-routable component without an @page directive (for example, Search.razor for a shared Search component used in other components).

Search.razor:

@page "/search"

<h1>Search Example</h1>

<p>Filter: @Filter</p>

<p>Page: @Page</p>

@if (Stars is not null)
{
    <p>Stars:</p>

    <ul>
        @foreach (var name in Stars)
        {
            <li>@name</li>
        }
    </ul>
}

@code {
    [SupplyParameterFromQuery]
    public string? Filter { get; set; }

    [SupplyParameterFromQuery]
    public int? Page { get; set; }

    [SupplyParameterFromQuery(Name = "star")]
    public string[]? Stars { get; set; }
}

Search.razor:

@page "/search"

<h1>Search Example</h1>

<p>Filter: @Filter</p>

<p>Page: @Page</p>

@if (Stars is not null)
{
    <p>Stars:</p>

    <ul>
        @foreach (var name in Stars)
        {
            <li>@name</li>
        }
    </ul>
}

@code {
    [Parameter]
    [SupplyParameterFromQuery]
    public string? Filter { get; set; }

    [Parameter]
    [SupplyParameterFromQuery]
    public int? Page { get; set; }

    [Parameter]
    [SupplyParameterFromQuery(Name = "star")]
    public string[]? Stars { get; set; }
}

Use NavigationManager.GetUriWithQueryParameter to add, change, or remove one or more query parameters on the current URL:

@inject NavigationManager Navigation

...

Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameter("{NAME}", {VALUE})

For the preceding example:

  • The {NAME} placeholder specifies the query parameter name. The {VALUE} placeholder specifies the value as a supported type. Supported types are listed later in this section.
  • A string is returned equal to the current URL with a single parameter:
    • Added if the query parameter name doesn't exist in the current URL.
    • Updated to the value provided if the query parameter exists in the current URL.
    • Removed if the type of the provided value is nullable and the value is null.
  • The correct culture-invariant formatting is applied for the given type (CultureInfo.InvariantCulture).
  • The query parameter name and value are URL-encoded.
  • All of the values with the matching query parameter name are replaced if there are multiple instances of the type.

Call NavigationManager.GetUriWithQueryParameters to create a URI constructed from Uri with multiple parameters added, updated, or removed. For each value, the framework uses value?.GetType() to determine the runtime type for each query parameter and selects the correct culture-invariant formatting. The framework throws an error for unsupported types.

@inject NavigationManager Navigation

...

Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameters({PARAMETERS})

The {PARAMETERS} placeholder is an IReadOnlyDictionary<string, object>.

Pass a URI string to GetUriWithQueryParameters to generate a new URI from a provided URI with multiple parameters added, updated, or removed. For each value, the framework uses value?.GetType() to determine the runtime type for each query parameter and selects the correct culture-invariant formatting. The framework throws an error for unsupported types. Supported types are listed later in this section.

@inject NavigationManager Navigation

...

Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameters("{URI}", {PARAMETERS})
  • The {URI} placeholder is the URI with or without a query string.
  • The {PARAMETERS} placeholder is an IReadOnlyDictionary<string, object>.

Supported types are identical to supported types for route constraints:

  • bool
  • DateTime
  • decimal
  • double
  • float
  • Guid
  • int
  • long
  • string

Supported types include:

  • Nullable variants of the preceding types.
  • Arrays of the preceding types, whether they're nullable or not nullable.

Replace a query parameter value when the parameter exists

Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameter("full name", "Morena Baccarin")
Current URL Generated URL
scheme://host/?full%20name=David%20Krumholtz&age=42 scheme://host/?full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin&age=42
scheme://host/?fUlL%20nAmE=David%20Krumholtz&AgE=42 scheme://host/?full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin&AgE=42
scheme://host/?full%20name=Jewel%20Staite&age=42&full%20name=Summer%20Glau scheme://host/?full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin&age=42&full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin
scheme://host/?full%20name=&age=42 scheme://host/?full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin&age=42
scheme://host/?full%20name= scheme://host/?full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin

Append a query parameter and value when the parameter doesn't exist

Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameter("name", "Morena Baccarin")
Current URL Generated URL
scheme://host/?age=42 scheme://host/?age=42&name=Morena%20Baccarin
scheme://host/ scheme://host/?name=Morena%20Baccarin
scheme://host/? scheme://host/?name=Morena%20Baccarin

Remove a query parameter when the parameter value is null

Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameter("full name", (string)null)
Current URL Generated URL
scheme://host/?full%20name=David%20Krumholtz&age=42 scheme://host/?age=42
scheme://host/?full%20name=Sally%20Smith&age=42&full%20name=Summer%20Glau scheme://host/?age=42
scheme://host/?full%20name=Sally%20Smith&age=42&FuLl%20NaMe=Summer%20Glau scheme://host/?age=42
scheme://host/?full%20name=&age=42 scheme://host/?age=42
scheme://host/?full%20name= scheme://host/

Add, update, and remove query parameters

In the following example:

  • name is removed, if present.
  • age is added with a value of 25 (int), if not present. If present, age is updated to a value of 25.
  • eye color is added or updated to a value of green.
Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameters(
    new Dictionary<string, object?>
    {
        ["name"] = null,
        ["age"] = (int?)25,
        ["eye color"] = "green"
    })
Current URL Generated URL
scheme://host/?name=David%20Krumholtz&age=42 scheme://host/?age=25&eye%20color=green
scheme://host/?NaMe=David%20Krumholtz&AgE=42 scheme://host/?age=25&eye%20color=green
scheme://host/?name=David%20Krumholtz&age=42&keepme=true scheme://host/?age=25&keepme=true&eye%20color=green
scheme://host/?age=42&eye%20color=87 scheme://host/?age=25&eye%20color=green
scheme://host/? scheme://host/?age=25&eye%20color=green
scheme://host/ scheme://host/?age=25&eye%20color=green

Support for enumerable values

In the following example:

  • full name is added or updated to Morena Baccarin, a single value.
  • ping parameters are added or replaced with 35, 16, 87 and 240.
Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameters(
    new Dictionary<string, object?>
    {
        ["full name"] = "Morena Baccarin",
        ["ping"] = new int?[] { 35, 16, null, 87, 240 }
    })
Current URL Generated URL
scheme://host/?full%20name=David%20Krumholtz&ping=8&ping=300 scheme://host/?full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin&ping=35&ping=16&ping=87&ping=240
scheme://host/?ping=8&full%20name=David%20Krumholtz&ping=300 scheme://host/?ping=35&full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin&ping=16&ping=87&ping=240
scheme://host/?ping=8&ping=300&ping=50&ping=68&ping=42 scheme://host/?ping=35&ping=16&ping=87&ping=240&full%20name=Morena%20Baccarin

To navigate with an added or modified query string, pass a generated URL to NavigateTo.

The following example calls:

Navigation.NavigateTo(
    Navigation.GetUriWithQueryParameter("name", "Morena Baccarin"));

The query string of a request is obtained from the NavigationManager.Uri property:

@inject NavigationManager Navigation

...

var query = new Uri(Navigation.Uri).Query;

To parse a query string's parameters, one approach is to use URLSearchParams with JavaScript (JS) interop:

export createQueryString = (string queryString) => new URLSearchParams(queryString);

For more information on JavaScript isolation with JavaScript modules, see Call JavaScript functions from .NET methods in ASP.NET Core Blazor.

Hashed routing to named elements

Navigate to a named element using the following approaches with a hashed (#) reference to the element. Routes to elements within the component and routes to elements in external components use root-relative paths. A leading forward slash (/) is optional.

Examples for each of the following approaches demonstrate navigation to an element with an id of targetElement in the Counter component:

  • Anchor element (<a>) with an href:

    <a href="/counter#targetElement">

  • NavLink component with an href:

    <NavLink href="/counter#targetElement">

  • NavigationManager.NavigateTo passing the relative URL:

    Navigation.NavigateTo("/counter#targetElement");

The following example demonstrates hashed routing to named H2 headings within a component and to external components.

In the Home (Home.razor) and Counter (Counter.razor) components, place the following markup at the bottoms of the existing component markup to serve as navigation targets. The <div> creates artificial vertical space to demonstrate browser scrolling behavior:

<div class="border border-info rounded bg-info" style="height:500px"></div>

<h2 id="targetElement">Target H2 heading</h2>
<p>Content!</p>

Add the following HashedRouting component to the app.

HashedRouting.razor:

@page "/hashed-routing"
@inject NavigationManager Navigation

<PageTitle>Hashed routing</PageTitle>

<h1>Hashed routing to named elements</h1>

<ul>
    <li>
        <a href="/hashed-routing#targetElement">
            Anchor in this component
        </a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/#targetElement">
            Anchor to the <code>Home</code> component
        </a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <a href="/counter#targetElement">
            Anchor to the <code>Counter</code> component
        </a>
    </li>
    <li>
        <NavLink href="/hashed-routing#targetElement">
            Use a `NavLink` component in this component
        </NavLink>
    </li>
    <li>
        <button @onclick="NavigateToElement">
            Navigate with <code>NavigationManager</code> to the 
            <code>Counter</code> component
        </button>
    </li>
</ul>

<div class="border border-info rounded bg-info" style="height:500px"></div>

<h2 id="targetElement">Target H2 heading</h2>
<p>Content!</p>

@code {
    private void NavigateToElement()
    {
        Navigation.NavigateTo("/counter#targetElement");
    }
}

User interaction with <Navigating> content

The Router component can indicate to the user that a page transition is occurring.

At the top of the component that specifies the Router component, add an @using directive for the Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Routing namespace:

@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.Routing

Add a <Navigating> tag to the component with markup to display during page transition events. For more information, see Navigating (API documentation).

In the router element content (<Router>...</Router>):

<Navigating>
    <p>Loading the requested page&hellip;</p>
</Navigating>

For an example that uses the Navigating property, see Lazy load assemblies in ASP.NET Core Blazor WebAssembly.

Handle asynchronous navigation events with OnNavigateAsync

The Router component supports an OnNavigateAsync feature. The OnNavigateAsync handler is invoked when the user:

  • Visits a route for the first time by navigating to it directly in their browser.
  • Navigates to a new route using a link or a NavigationManager.NavigateTo invocation.
<Router AppAssembly="@typeof(App).Assembly" 
    OnNavigateAsync="@OnNavigateAsync">
    ...
</Router>

@code {
    private async Task OnNavigateAsync(NavigationContext args)
    {
        ...
    }
}

<Router AppAssembly="@typeof(Program).Assembly" 
    OnNavigateAsync="@OnNavigateAsync">
    ...
</Router>

@code {
    private async Task OnNavigateAsync(NavigationContext args)
    {
        ...
    }
}

For an example that uses OnNavigateAsync, see Lazy load assemblies in ASP.NET Core Blazor WebAssembly.

When prerendering on the server, OnNavigateAsync is executed twice:

  • Once when the requested endpoint component is initially rendered statically.
  • A second time when the browser renders the endpoint component.

To prevent developer code in OnNavigateAsync from executing twice, the Routes component can store the NavigationContext for use in OnAfterRender{Async}, where firstRender can be checked. For more information, see Prerendering with JavaScript interop in the Blazor Lifecycle article.

To prevent developer code in OnNavigateAsync from executing twice, the App component can store the NavigationContext for use in OnAfterRender{Async}, where firstRender can be checked. For more information, see Prerendering with JavaScript interop in the Blazor Lifecycle article.

Handle cancellations in OnNavigateAsync

The NavigationContext object passed to the OnNavigateAsync callback contains a CancellationToken that's set when a new navigation event occurs. The OnNavigateAsync callback must throw when this cancellation token is set to avoid continuing to run the OnNavigateAsync callback on an outdated navigation.

If a user navigates to an endpoint but then immediately navigates to a new endpoint, the app shouldn't continue running the OnNavigateAsync callback for the first endpoint.

In the following example:

  • The cancellation token is passed in the call to PostAsJsonAsync, which can cancel the POST if the user navigates away from the /about endpoint.
  • The cancellation token is set during a product prefetch operation if the user navigates away from the /store endpoint.
@inject HttpClient Http
@inject ProductCatalog Products

<Router AppAssembly="@typeof(App).Assembly" 
    OnNavigateAsync="@OnNavigateAsync">
    ...
</Router>

@code {
    private async Task OnNavigateAsync(NavigationContext context)
    {
        if (context.Path == "/about") 
        {
            var stats = new Stats { Page = "/about" };
            await Http.PostAsJsonAsync("api/visited", stats, 
                context.CancellationToken);
        }
        else if (context.Path == "/store")
        {
            var productIds = new[] { 345, 789, 135, 689 };

            foreach (var productId in productIds) 
            {
                context.CancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
                Products.Prefetch(productId);
            }
        }
    }
}

@inject HttpClient Http
@inject ProductCatalog Products

<Router AppAssembly="@typeof(Program).Assembly" 
    OnNavigateAsync="@OnNavigateAsync">
    ...
</Router>

@code {
    private async Task OnNavigateAsync(NavigationContext context)
    {
        if (context.Path == "/about") 
        {
            var stats = new Stats { Page = "/about" };
            await Http.PostAsJsonAsync("api/visited", stats, 
                context.CancellationToken);
        }
        else if (context.Path == "/store")
        {
            var productIds = new[] { 345, 789, 135, 689 };

            foreach (var productId in productIds) 
            {
                context.CancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
                Products.Prefetch(productId);
            }
        }
    }
}

Note

Not throwing if the cancellation token in NavigationContext is canceled can result in unintended behavior, such as rendering a component from a previous navigation.

Handle/prevent location changes

RegisterLocationChangingHandler registers a handler to process incoming navigation events. The handler's context provided by LocationChangingContext includes the following properties:

A component can register multiple location changing handlers in its OnAfterRender or OnAfterRenderAsync methods. Navigation invokes all of the location changing handlers registered across the entire app (across multiple components), and any internal navigation executes them all in parallel. In addition to NavigateTo handlers are invoked:

  • When selecting internal links, which are links that point to URLs under the app's base path.
  • When navigating using the forward and back buttons in a browser.

Handlers are only executed for internal navigation within the app. If the user selects a link that navigates to a different site or changes the address bar to a different site manually, location changing handlers aren't executed.

Implement IDisposable and dispose registered handlers to unregister them. For more information, see ASP.NET Core Razor component lifecycle.

Important

Don't attempt to execute DOM cleanup tasks via JavaScript (JS) interop when handling location changes. Use the MutationObserver pattern in JS on the client. For more information, see ASP.NET Core Blazor JavaScript interoperability (JS interop).

In the following example, a location changing handler is registered for navigation events.

NavHandler.razor:

@page "/nav-handler"
@inject NavigationManager Navigation
@implements IDisposable

<p>
    <button @onclick="@(() => Navigation.NavigateTo("/"))">
        Home (Allowed)
    </button>
    <button @onclick="@(() => Navigation.NavigateTo("/counter"))">
        Counter (Prevented)
    </button>
</p>

@code {
    private IDisposable? registration;

    protected override void OnAfterRender(bool firstRender)
    {
        if (firstRender)
        {
            registration = 
                Navigation.RegisterLocationChangingHandler(OnLocationChanging);
        }
    }

    private ValueTask OnLocationChanging(LocationChangingContext context)
    {
        if (context.TargetLocation == "/counter")
        {
            context.PreventNavigation();
        }

        return ValueTask.CompletedTask;
    }

    public void Dispose() => registration?.Dispose();
}

Since internal navigation can be canceled asynchronously, multiple overlapping calls to registered handlers may occur. For example, multiple handler calls may occur when the user rapidly selects the back button on a page or selects multiple links before a navigation is executed. The following is a summary of the asynchronous navigation logic:

  • If any location changing handlers are registered, all navigation is initially reverted, then replayed if the navigation isn't canceled.
  • If overlapping navigation requests are made, the latest request always cancels earlier requests, which means the following:
    • The app may treat multiple back and forward button selections as a single selection.
    • If the user selects multiple links before the navigation completes, the last link selected determines the navigation.

For more information on passing NavigationOptions to NavigateTo to control entries and state of the navigation history stack, see the Navigation options section.

For additional example code, see the NavigationManagerComponent in the BasicTestApp (dotnet/aspnetcore reference source).

Note

Documentation links to .NET reference source usually load the repository's default branch, which represents the current development for the next release of .NET. To select a tag for a specific release, use the Switch branches or tags dropdown list. For more information, see How to select a version tag of ASP.NET Core source code (dotnet/AspNetCore.Docs #26205).

The NavigationLock component intercepts navigation events as long as it is rendered, effectively "locking" any given navigation until a decision is made to either proceed or cancel. Use NavigationLock when navigation interception can be scoped to the lifetime of a component.

NavigationLock parameters:

  • ConfirmExternalNavigation sets a browser dialog to prompt the user to either confirm or cancel external navigation. The default value is false. Displaying the confirmation dialog requires initial user interaction with the page before triggering external navigation with the URL in the browser's address bar. For more information on the interaction requirement, see Window: beforeunload event (MDN documentation).
  • OnBeforeInternalNavigation sets a callback for internal navigation events.

In the following NavLock component:

  • An attempt to follow the link to Microsoft's website must be confirmed by the user before the navigation to https://www.microsoft.com succeeds.
  • PreventNavigation is called to prevent navigation from occurring if the user declines to confirm the navigation via a JavaScript (JS) interop call that spawns the JS confirm dialog.

NavLock.razor:

@page "/nav-lock"
@inject IJSRuntime JSRuntime
@inject NavigationManager Navigation

<NavigationLock ConfirmExternalNavigation="true" 
    OnBeforeInternalNavigation="OnBeforeInternalNavigation" />

<p>
    <button @onclick="Navigate">Navigate</button>
</p>

<p>
    <a href="https://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft homepage</a>
</p>

@code {
    private void Navigate()
    {
        Navigation.NavigateTo("/");
    }

    private async Task OnBeforeInternalNavigation(LocationChangingContext context)
    {
        var isConfirmed = await JSRuntime.InvokeAsync<bool>("confirm", 
            "Are you sure you want to navigate to the root page?");

        if (!isConfirmed)
        {
            context.PreventNavigation();
        }
    }
}

For additional example code, see the ConfigurableNavigationLock component in the BasicTestApp (dotnet/aspnetcore reference source).

Use a NavLink component in place of HTML hyperlink elements (<a>) when creating navigation links. A NavLink component behaves like an <a> element, except it toggles an active CSS class based on whether its href matches the current URL. The active class helps a user understand which page is the active page among the navigation links displayed. Optionally, assign a CSS class name to NavLink.ActiveClass to apply a custom CSS class to the rendered link when the current route matches the href.

There are two NavLinkMatch options that you can assign to the Match attribute of the <NavLink> element:

In the preceding example, the Home NavLink href="" matches the home URL and only receives the active CSS class at the app's default base path (/). The second NavLink receives the active class when the user visits any URL with a component prefix (for example, /component and /component/another-segment).

Additional NavLink component attributes are passed through to the rendered anchor tag. In the following example, the NavLink component includes the target attribute:

<NavLink href="example-page" target="_blank">Example page</NavLink>

The following HTML markup is rendered:

<a href="example-page" target="_blank">Example page</a>

Warning

Due to the way that Blazor renders child content, rendering NavLink components inside a for loop requires a local index variable if the incrementing loop variable is used in the NavLink (child) component's content:

@for (int c = 0; c < 10; c++)
{
    var current = c;
    <li ...>
        <NavLink ... href="@c">
            <span ...></span> @current
        </NavLink>
    </li>
}

Using an index variable in this scenario is a requirement for any child component that uses a loop variable in its child content, not just the NavLink component.

Alternatively, use a foreach loop with Enumerable.Range:

@foreach (var c in Enumerable.Range(0,10))
{
    <li ...>
        <NavLink ... href="@c">
            <span ...></span> @c
        </NavLink>
    </li>
}

ASP.NET Core endpoint routing integration

This section applies to Blazor Web Apps operating over a circuit.

This section applies to Blazor Server apps.

A Blazor Web App is integrated into ASP.NET Core Endpoint Routing. An ASP.NET Core app is configured to accept incoming connections for interactive components with MapRazorComponents in the Program file. The default root component is the App component (App.razor):

app.MapRazorComponents<App>();

Blazor Server is integrated into ASP.NET Core Endpoint Routing. An ASP.NET Core app is configured to accept incoming connections for interactive components with MapBlazorHub in the Program file:

app.UseRouting();

app.MapBlazorHub();
app.MapFallbackToPage("/_Host");

Blazor Server is integrated into ASP.NET Core Endpoint Routing. An ASP.NET Core app is configured to accept incoming connections for interactive components with MapBlazorHub in Startup.Configure.

The typical configuration is to route all requests to a Razor page, which acts as the host for the server-side part of the Blazor Server app. By convention, the host page is usually named _Host.cshtml in the Pages folder of the app.

The route specified in the host file is called a fallback route because it operates with a low priority in route matching. The fallback route is used when other routes don't match. This allows the app to use other controllers and pages without interfering with component routing in the Blazor Server app.

For information on configuring MapFallbackToPage for non-root URL server hosting, see Host and deploy ASP.NET Core Blazor.