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EndpointHelpers by Gustavo Mauricio de Barros

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Name: EndpointHelpers

Source generators that add strongly-typed UrlHelper and LinkGenerator APIs for ASP.NET Core MVC controllers.

Author: Gustavo Mauricio de Barros

NuGet: https://www.nuget.org/packages/EndpointHelpers/

You can find more details at https://github.com/gumbarros/EndpointHelpers

Source: https://github.com/gumbarros/EndpointHelpers

Author​

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Gustavo Mauricio de Barros Alt text

Original Readme​

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EndpointHelpers​

EndpointHelpers is a Roslyn source generator that creates strongly-typed helpers for ASP.NET Core MVC controllers. It generates:

  • IUrlHelper helpers with action methods per controller.
  • LinkGenerator helpers with Get{Action}Path methods, including HttpContext overloads.
  • Redirect helpers for controller actions, so RedirectToAction("Index") becomes RedirectToIndex().
  • View helpers on controllers, so return View("Index") becomes return IndexView().
  • Extension properties on IUrlHelper and LinkGenerator to access the helpers.
  • Attribute types are used to control generation.

This package ships only a source generator and generated code. There is no runtime dependency.

Example​

######### Without the generator

<a href='@Url.Action(action: "Details",controller: "Orders", values: new \{ orderId = 123, source = "dashboard" \} )'>
    View order
</a>

######### With the generator enabled

<a href='@Url.Orders.Details(123, "dashboard")'>
    View order
</a>
Install​

Add the NuGet package:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="EndpointHelpers" Version="2.0.2"/>
</ItemGroup>

or

dotnet add package EndpointHelpers
Requirements​

The generated code uses C# 14 extension members (extension(...) blocks), so consumers must compile with a C# 14 toolchain (the .NET 10 SDK or later).

Optional (for better IntelliSense in JetBrains IDEs):

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="JetBrains.Annotations" Version="2025.2.4" />
</ItemGroup>

When JetBrains.Annotations is installed, generated MVC helper methods include ASP MVC annotations, and IntelliSense/navigation for views and model parameters works correctly when using R### or Rider.

Quick Start​

Enable generation at the assembly level:

using EndpointHelpers;

[assembly: GenerateUrlHelper]
[assembly: GenerateLinkGenerator]

Or apply to a specific controller:

using EndpointHelpers;

[GenerateUrlHelper]
[GenerateLinkGenerator]
[GenerateRedirectToAction]
[GenerateViewHelpers]
public partial class HomeController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index() => View();
    public IActionResult Privacy() => View();
}

Or only to a specific action:

using EndpointHelpers;

public partial class HomeController : Controller
{
    [GenerateUrlHelper]
    [GenerateRedirectToAction]
    public IActionResult Index() => View();
    public IActionResult Privacy() => View();
}

Redirect example:

public partial class OrdersController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index() => View();
    
    [GenerateRedirectToAction]
    public IActionResult Details(int orderId, string? source) => View();

    public IActionResult Save()
    {
        return RedirectToDetails(orderId: 123, source: "created");
    }
}
Attributes and Scope​

Generation can be enabled at different scopes:

  • Assembly: [assembly: GenerateUrlHelper], [assembly: GenerateLinkGenerator].
  • Controller: [GenerateUrlHelper], [GenerateLinkGenerator], [GenerateRedirectToAction] on the controller class.
  • Action: [GenerateUrlHelper], [GenerateLinkGenerator], [GenerateRedirectToAction] on a specific action method.
  • View helpers: [GenerateViewHelpers] on the controller class (controller-only, not per-action or assembly).
  • GenerateRedirectToAction does not support assembly-level attributes and requires controllers declared partial.
  • GenerateViewHelpers does not support assembly-level attributes and requires controllers declared partial.

You can exclude methods using:

  • [UrlHelperIgnore]
  • [LinkGeneratorIgnore]
  • [RedirectToActionIgnore]
  • [NonAction] (standard ASP.NET Core MVC attribute)
Behavior​
  • Controllers are discovered by name: non-abstract classes ending with Controller.
  • Only public, ordinary methods are included.
  • UrlHelper and LinkGenerator helpers are placed in the EndpointHelpers namespace.
  • Redirect helpers are generated as partial members in the controller namespace.
  • Extension properties use the controller name without the Controller suffix.
  • Controllers with [Area("...")] are grouped by area, so generated access becomes Url.<Area>.<Controller> and Links.<Area>.<Controller>.
  • Only route-value-compatible parameters are included: simple types (int, string, Guid, DateTime, enums, nullables, ...) or parameters marked [FromRoute]/[FromQuery]/[FromHeader]/[FromForm]. Body-bound parameters (complex types or [FromBody]) are excluded, and CancellationToken/[FromServices] parameters are always ignored.

######### Controller and action discovery

[GenerateUrlHelper]
[GenerateLinkGenerator]
[GenerateRedirectToAction]
public partial class OrdersController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index() => View();
    
    public IActionResult Details(int orderId, string? source) => View();
}

######### Optional Optimization

Caching controller helpers avoid repeated allocations. This is a micro-optimization and usually not necessary in most scenarios. It can make sense in hot views where you call the same helper many times (for example, in a loop), but the savings are typically negligible compared to database access, rendering, or network costs. If you don’t measure a problem, skip this.

@{
    var ordersUrlHelper = Url.Orders;
}

@for (var i = 0; i < Model.Orders.Count; i++)
{
    var order = Model.Orders[i];
    <a class="btn btn-sm btn-outline-secondary" href="@ordersUrlHelper.Details(order.Id)">Details</a>
}

########## Generated surface

// UrlHelperGenerator

Url.Orders.Index();
Url.Orders.Details(orderId: 123, source: "dashboard");
Url.Admin.Users.Index();

// LinkGeneratorGenerator

LinkGenerator.Orders.GetIndexPath();
LinkGenerator.Orders.GetDetailsPath(123, "dashboard");
LinkGenerator.Admin.Users.GetIndexPath();

// RedirectToActionGenerator

RedirectToIndex();
RedirectToDetails(orderId: 123, source: "dashboard");
RedirectToUsers();
Example Project​

See example/EndpointHelpers.Sample for a minimal MVC app using all generators.

License​

GNU General Public License

About​

note

Generating endpoint helpers for ASP.NET Core MVC

How to use​

Example (source csproj, source files)​

This is the CSharp Project that references EndpointHelpers

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net10.0</TargetFramework>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="EndpointHelpers" Version="2.0.2" />
  </ItemGroup>
	<PropertyGroup>
		<EmitCompilerGeneratedFiles>true</EmitCompilerGeneratedFiles>
		<CompilerGeneratedFilesOutputPath>$(BaseIntermediateOutputPath)\GX</CompilerGeneratedFilesOutputPath>
	</PropertyGroup>
</Project>

Generated Files​

Those are taken from $(BaseIntermediateOutputPath)\GX

// <auto-generated/>
#nullable enable

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Routing;

namespace EndpointHelpers;

public sealed class HomeControllerLinkGenerator(LinkGenerator linkGenerator)
{
    public string GetIndexPath()
    {
        return linkGenerator.GetPathByAction(
            action: "Index",
            controller: "Home",
            values: null)!;
    }

    public string GetIndexPath(HttpContext httpContext)
    {
        return linkGenerator.GetPathByAction(
            httpContext,
            action: "Index",
            controller: "Home",
            values: null)!;
    }

    public string GetPrivacyPath()
    {
        return linkGenerator.GetPathByAction(
            action: "Privacy",
            controller: "Home",
            values: null)!;
    }

    public string GetPrivacyPath(HttpContext httpContext)
    {
        return linkGenerator.GetPathByAction(
            httpContext,
            action: "Privacy",
            controller: "Home",
            values: null)!;
    }

    public string GetErrorPath()
    {
        return linkGenerator.GetPathByAction(
            action: "Error",
            controller: "Home",
            values: null)!;
    }

    public string GetErrorPath(HttpContext httpContext)
    {
        return linkGenerator.GetPathByAction(
            httpContext,
            action: "Error",
            controller: "Home",
            values: null)!;
    }

}

public static class LinkGeneratorExtensions
{
    extension(LinkGenerator linkGenerator)
    {
        public HomeControllerLinkGenerator Home => new HomeControllerLinkGenerator(linkGenerator);

    }
}

Useful​

Download Example (.NET C#)​

tip

Download Example project EndpointHelpers

Share EndpointHelpers​

https://ignatandrei.github.io/RSCG_Examples/v2/docs/EndpointHelpers

Category "MVC" has the following generators:​

1 EndpointHelpers Nuget GitHub Repo stars 2026-08-21

2 SG4MVC Nuget GitHub Repo stars 2025-08-04

See category​

MVC