IIS URL Rewrite equivalent for Question2Answer mod_rewrite

Question

What IIS URL Rewrite rule set in web.config is equivalent to this mod_rewrite rule set provided in Question2Answer's default .htaccess?

DirectoryIndex index.php
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
#RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(.*)//(.*)$
RewriteRule . %1/%2 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^.*$ index.php?qa-rewrite=$0&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
</IfModule>

The rule differs from a typical WordPress-style rewrite in that nested path elements need to be passed through. Following is an example of a test URL that Question2Answer uses to verify rewriting is working, when Question2Answer is deployed into a qa directory on the server (deployment to the web root fails similarly):

http://localhost:32568/qa/url/test/%24%26-_~%23%25%5C%40%5E%2A%28%29%3D%21%28%29%5D%5B%60%27%3B%3A%7C%22.%7B%7D%2C%3C%3E%3F%23+%CF%80%C2%A7%C2%BD%D0%96%D7%A9?dummy=&param=%24%26-_%7E%23%25%5C%40%5E%2A%28%29%3D%21%28%29%5D%5B%60%27%3B%3A%7C%22.%7B%7D%2C%3C%3E%3F%23+%CF%80%C2%A7%C2%BD%D0%96%D7%A9

This is what IIS Manager's "Import mod_rewrite rules" feature came up with:

<rewrite>
   <rules>
      <rule name="Imported Rule 1" stopProcessing="true">
      <match url="." ignoreCase="false" />
      <conditions>
         <add input="{URL}" pattern="^(.*)//(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
      </conditions>
      <action type="Redirect" redirectType="Permanent" url="{C:1}/{C:2}" />
      </rule>
      <rule name="Imported Rule 2" stopProcessing="true">
      <match url="^.*$" ignoreCase="false" />
      <conditions>
         <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
         <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
      </conditions>
      <action type="Redirect" url="index.php?qa-rewrite={R:0}&amp;{QUERY_STRING}" appendQueryString="false" />
      </rule>
   </rules>
</rewrite>

I also added this so that the test URLs would fail in the same way as the actual navigation URLs:

<security>
   <requestFiltering allowDoubleEscaping="true" />
</security>

There is no answer to a question covering this on question2answer QA's site. Hopefully someone experienced in IIS URL Rewrite here will know.

Do you have access to the inetmgr MMC? If yes, try this: stackoverflow.com/questions/15018538/… — cheesemacfly
@cheesemacfly: I do. Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The rewriting works fine on a Linux deployment, but the Windows version fails on the multi-part paths. Perhaps IIS rewriting isn't exactly equivalent to Apache. How do you debug rewriting? — Edward Brey
First think you can do is replace Rewrite with Redirect to see where it takes you. If not enough, you can use the failed request tracing tool. If it doesn't help, edit your question adding your current rules! — cheesemacfly
@cheesemacfly: The redirect URL looked like fine, and I couldn't get the Fail Request Tracing Rules module to show up, so I posted the web.config rules as you suggested. — Edward Brey
So when you use Redirect the page shows up as it should? (you don't get a 404 or any other issue?) — cheesemacfly

Edward Brey Edward Brey · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-12T14:05:49

This configuration works:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <system.webServer>

    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <rule name="DeduplicateSlashes" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="." ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{URL}" pattern="^(.*)//(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Redirect" redirectType="Permanent" url="{C:1}/{C:2}" />
        </rule>
        <rule name="CleanRouting" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^.*$" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php?qa-rewrite={R:0}&amp;{QUERY_STRING}" appendQueryString="false" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>

    <!-- Double escaping is needed for URLs with '+', e.g. for the account page for a username with a space. -->
    <security>
       <requestFiltering allowDoubleEscaping="true" />
    </security>

  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

IIS URL Rewrite equivalent for Question2Answer mod_rewrite

1 Answers