Getting All Controllers and Actions names in C#

Question

Is it possible to list the names of all controllers and their actions programmatically?

I want to implement database driven security for each controller and action.

Answer 1

Or, to whittle away at @dcastro 's idea and just get the controllers:

Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
.GetTypes()
.Where(type => typeof(Controller).IsAssignableFrom(type))

Answer 2

If it may helps anyone, I improved @AVH's answer to get more informations using recursivity.
My goal was to create an autogenerated API help page :

 Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(MyBaseApiController)).GetTypes()
        .Where(type => type.IsSubclassOf(typeof(MyBaseApiController)))
        .SelectMany(type => type.GetMethods(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly | BindingFlags.Public))
        .Where(m => !m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute), true).Any())
        .Select(x => new ApiHelpEndpointViewModel
        {
            Endpoint = x.DeclaringType.Name.Replace("Controller", String.Empty),
            Controller = x.DeclaringType.Name,
            Action = x.Name,
            DisplayableName = x.GetCustomAttributes<DisplayAttribute>().FirstOrDefault()?.Name ?? x.Name,
            Description = x.GetCustomAttributes<DescriptionAttribute>().FirstOrDefault()?.Description ?? String.Empty,
            Properties = x.ReturnType.GenericTypeArguments.FirstOrDefault()?.GetProperties(),
            PropertyDescription = x.ReturnType.GenericTypeArguments.FirstOrDefault()?.GetProperties()
                                        .Select(q => q.CustomAttributes.SingleOrDefault(a => a.AttributeType.Name == "DescriptionAttribute")?.ConstructorArguments ?? new List<CustomAttributeTypedArgument>() )
                                        .ToList()
        })
        .OrderBy(x => x.Controller)
        .ThenBy(x => x.Action)
        .ToList()
        .ForEach(x => apiHelpViewModel.Endpoints.Add(x)); //See comment below

(Just change the last ForEach() clause as my model was encapsulated inside another model).
The corresponding ApiHelpViewModel is :

public class ApiHelpEndpointViewModel
{
    public string Endpoint { get; set; }
    public string Controller { get; set; }
    public string Action { get; set; }
    public string DisplayableName { get; set; }
    public string Description { get; set; }
    public string EndpointRoute => $"/api/{Endpoint}";
    public PropertyInfo[] Properties { get; set; }
    public List<IList<CustomAttributeTypedArgument>> PropertyDescription { get; set; }
}

As my endpoints return IQueryable<CustomType>, the last property (PropertyDescription) contains a lot of metadatas related to CustomType's properties. So you can get the name, type, description (added with a [Description] annotation) etc... of every CustomType's properties.

It goes further that the original question, but if it can help someone...

---

UPDATE

To go even further, if you want to add some [DataAnnotation] on fields you can't modify (because they've been generated by a Template for example), you can create a MetadataAttributes class :

[MetadataType(typeof(MetadataAttributesMyClass))]
public partial class MyClass
{
}

public class MetadataAttributesMyClass
{
    [Description("My custom description")]
    public int Id {get; set;}

    //all your generated fields with [Description] or other data annotation
}

BE CAREFUL : MyClass MUST be :

• A partial class,
• In the same namespace as the generated MyClass

Then, update the code which retrieves the metadatas :

Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(MyBaseController)).GetTypes()
        .Where(type => type.IsSubclassOf(typeof(MyBaseController)))
        .SelectMany(type => type.GetMethods(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly | BindingFlags.Public))
        .Where(m => !m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute), true).Any())
        .Select(x =>
        {
            var type = x.ReturnType.GenericTypeArguments.FirstOrDefault();
            var metadataType = type.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(MetadataTypeAttribute), true)
                .OfType<MetadataTypeAttribute>().FirstOrDefault();
            var metaData = (metadataType != null)
                ? ModelMetadataProviders.Current.GetMetadataForType(null, metadataType.MetadataClassType)
                : ModelMetadataProviders.Current.GetMetadataForType(null, type);

            return new ApiHelpEndpoint
            {
                Endpoint = x.DeclaringType.Name.Replace("Controller", String.Empty),
                Controller = x.DeclaringType.Name,
                Action = x.Name,
                DisplayableName = x.GetCustomAttributes<DisplayAttribute>().FirstOrDefault()?.Name ?? x.Name,
                Description = x.GetCustomAttributes<DescriptionAttribute>().FirstOrDefault()?.Description ?? String.Empty,
                Properties = x.ReturnType.GenericTypeArguments.FirstOrDefault()?.GetProperties(),
                PropertyDescription = metaData.Properties.Select(e =>
                {
                    var m = metaData.ModelType.GetProperty(e.PropertyName)
                        .GetCustomAttributes(typeof(DescriptionAttribute), true)
                        .FirstOrDefault();
                    return m != null ? ((DescriptionAttribute)m).Description : string.Empty;
                }).ToList()
            };
        })
        .OrderBy(x => x.Controller)
        .ThenBy(x => x.Action)
        .ToList()
        .ForEach(x => api2HelpViewModel.Endpoints.Add(x));

(Credit to this answer)

and update PropertyDescription as public List<string> PropertyDescription { get; set; }

Answer 3

Use Reflection, enumerate all types inside the assembly and filter classes inherited from System.Web.MVC.Controller, than list public methods of this types as actions

Answer 4

var result = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()
            .GetTypes()
            .Where(type => typeof(ApiController).IsAssignableFrom(type))
            .SelectMany(type => type.GetMethods(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly | BindingFlags.Public))
            .Where(m => !m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Runtime.CompilerServices.CompilerGeneratedAttribute), true).Any())
            .GroupBy(x => x.DeclaringType.Name)
            .Select(x => new { Controller = x.Key, Actions = x.Select(s => s.Name).ToList() })
            .ToList();

Answer 5

@decastro answer is good. I add this filter to return only public actions those have been declared by the developer.

        var asm = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
        var methods = asm.GetTypes()
            .Where(type => typeof(Controller)
                .IsAssignableFrom(type))
            .SelectMany(type => type.GetMethods())
            .Where(method => method.IsPublic 
                && !method.IsDefined(typeof(NonActionAttribute))
                && (
                    method.ReturnType==typeof(ActionResult) ||
                    method.ReturnType == typeof(Task<ActionResult>) ||
                    method.ReturnType == typeof(String) ||
                    //method.ReturnType == typeof(IHttpResult) ||
                    )
                )
            .Select(m=>m.Name);

Answer 6

I was looking for a way to get Area, Controller and Action and for this I manage to change a little the methods you post here, so if anyone is looking for a way to get the AREA here is my ugly method (which I save to an xml):

 public static void GetMenuXml()
        {
       var projectName = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName.Split(',')[0];

        Assembly asm = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(MvcApplication));

        var model = asm.GetTypes().
            SelectMany(t => t.GetMethods(BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.DeclaredOnly | BindingFlags.Public))
            .Where(d => d.ReturnType.Name == "ActionResult").Select(n => new MyMenuModel()
            {
                Controller = n.DeclaringType?.Name.Replace("Controller", ""),
                Action = n.Name,
                ReturnType = n.ReturnType.Name,
                Attributes = string.Join(",", n.GetCustomAttributes().Select(a => a.GetType().Name.Replace("Attribute", ""))),
                Area = n.DeclaringType.Namespace.ToString().Replace(projectName + ".", "").Replace("Areas.", "").Replace(".Controllers", "").Replace("Controllers", "")
            });

        SaveData(model.ToList());
    }

Edit:

//assuming that the namespace is ProjectName.Areas.Admin.Controllers

 Area=n.DeclaringType.Namespace.Split('.').Reverse().Skip(1).First()