Redirects module for EPiServer

The module has the possibility to automatically manage redirects in the solution. Key features:

• Allow editors to manage redirects from old URLs, add redirects from some legacy addresses, etc.,
  • This is possible via the user interface (adding new "Redirects" tab in the EPiServer panel top menu)
• Import redirects from file - see section Import redirects from CSV file
• Create redirects automatically.
  • There is an automatic redirect created every time the path to a published page changes, taking into account different scenarios:
    • changing the URL Segment of a page,
    • changing the URL segment of any ancestor (either published or not),
    • changing the parent of the page, moving the page in content structure,
    • moving any ancestor of the page in content structure,
    • restoring from trash to a different location than the original, or when the URL of this location changed.

Basic installation scenario

1. The package can be found in the official NuGet repository. Install-Package Forte.EpiserverRedirects

2. Register services in your Startup class and provide an optional configure action:

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    // (...)
    services.ConfigureEpiserverRedirects(
        options =>
        {
            // configure caching, priority, etc
            options.Caching.UrlRedirectCacheEnabled = true;
            options.PreserveQueryString = false;
            options.AddAutomaticRedirects = false;
            options.SystemRedirectRulePriority = 80;
            options.DefaultRedirectRulePriority = 100;
        }
        repoConfig =>
        {
            // configure custom rule store here. Skip to fallback to Dynamic Data Store.
        });
    // (...)
}

3. Configure the application in your Startup class:

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app)
{
    // (...)
    app.UseEpiserverRedirects();
    // (...)
}

Custom Rule Store

By default, redirect rules are stored in Dynamic Data Store. You can implement custom store using the IRedirectRuleRepository interface. Refer to the Forte.EpiserverRedirects.SqlServer package for SQL Server implementation or a more generic Forte.EpiserverRedirects.EntityFramework package that can be helpful in order to implement custom, EF-based repositories.

Cache

The default EPiServer mechanism is used to manage cache and enable it to work in a distributed environment. In this package we leverage this mechanism to cache redirect response for a given URL.

Please keep in mind that caching is disabled by default but you can change this through the configuration.

Automatic redirects

Creating automatic redirects on various content events is enabled by default. You can disable it globally through the configuration.

There is also a possibility to temporarily disable this functionality by using DisabledAutomaticRedirectsScope:

using (new DisabledAutomaticRedirectsScope())
{
    // (...)
}

Manage Redirections

There are two ways to manage redirections:

1. Using user interface
2. By injecting IRedirectRuleRepository to your services

Import redirects from CSV file

To import redirects, in the "Redirects" tab upload a CSV file in the following format (no columns headers, semicolon as the delimiter)

Columns:

• old URL (just URL paths, without the domains)
• new URL (just URL paths, without the domains)
• type (Permanent or Temporary)
• rule type (ExactMatch or Regex)
• is active (TRUE or FALSE)
• comment
• priority (int)
• match to content (TRUE or FALSE) TRUE enforces that redirect is to URL, not to the ContentReference

Example:

/easee;/elbillader/;Permanent;ExactMatch;TRUE;COMMENT;1;FALSE  
/fondet;/los-fondet/;Permanent;ExactMatch;TRUE;COMMENT;1;FALSE

When uploading files multiple times, duplicate redirections are overwritten.