#Umbraco Api - Routing & Urls
This section will describe how Umbraco Api controllers are routed and how to retreive their URLs
##Routing
Just like Surface Controllers in Umbraco, when you inherit from the base class Umbraco.Web.WebApi.UmbracoApiController we will auto-route this controller so you don't have to worry about routing at all.
All locally declared Umbraco api controllers will be routed under the url path of:
~/Umbraco/Api/[YourControllerName]
All plugin based Umbraco api controlleres will be routed under the url path of:
~/Umbraco/[YourAreaName]/[YourControllerName]
##Urls
We've added some handy UrlHelper extension methods so you can easily retrieve the Url of your Umbraco Api controllers. The extension methods are found in the class: Umbraco.Web.UrlHelperExtensions so you'll need to ensure you have the namespace Umbraco.Web imported.
The method overloads are:
string GetUmbracoApiService<T>(string actionName)
string GetUmbracoApiService(string actionName, Type apiControllerType)
string GetUmbracoApiService(string actionName, string controllerName)
string GetUmbracoApiService(string actionName, string controllerName, string area)
The easiest way to retrieve a Url is to use your controller's type. Example:
@Url.GetUmbracoApiService<ProductsApiController>("GetAllProducts")
Generally a UrlHelper instance will be available on most base classes like Controllers and Views but In some cases you might need to create a UrlHelper instance manually. Here's an example of a way to do that:
var requestContext = HttpContext.Current.Request.RequestContext;
var urlHelper = new System.Web.Mvc.UrlHelper(requestContext);
var apiControllerUrl = urlHelper.GetUmbracoApiService("GetAllProducts");