Why Aren't My URL Rewrite Maps Changing the Browser's URL? - mod-rewrite

Question

Environment
IIS Server 8
URL Rewrite Module 2.0 (Version 7.2.2; Microsoft)
Rewrite Maps
Static HTML Files
Background
I want to display a user-friendly URL in the Browser by using URL Rewrite Mapping.
Problem
The Browser's URL bar does not change (ie, it does not switch to the user-friendly URL).
Request
Can you please tell me how to get my URL Rewrite Mapping to actually re-write the browser's URL (to the mapped value)?
Sample Code (Web.Config)
<rule name="RewriteMapping" stopProcessing="true">
<match url=".*" />
<conditions>
<add input="{Test:{REQUEST_URI}}" pattern="(.+)" />
</conditions>
<action type="Rewrite" url="{C:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
</rule>
<rewriteMaps>
<rewriteMap name="Test" defaultValue="">
<add key="foo.html" value="This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember" />
</rewriteMap>
</rewriteMaps>

Answer 1

To "rewrite" new canonical URLs to the underlying file
You have created a rewrite map that internally rewrites the "pretty" requested URL to the underlying URL/file that handles the request. Although you appear to have written the key/value pair the wrong way round. It should be:
<add key="/This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember" value="/foo.html" />
/This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember is the "pretty" URL being requested, and /foo.html is the underlying file that the request is rewritten to that actually handles the request.
This is not an external redirect that "changes" the URL in the browser. You need to actually change the URLs in your HTML source. The rewrite map does not do this for you (and neither is it meant to).
The rewrite map as written probably isn't actually doing anything (missing slash prefix), but if it did then it would presumably result in a 404 since This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember won't be recognised as a valid page.
To "redirect" old URLs to new
However, if you are changing an existing URL structure then you can implement an additional "redirect" rewrite map to externally redirect requests for the "old" URL to the desired "pretty" canonical URL (essentially the reverse of the above). But you must have already changed the URLs in your HTML source before doing so. This "redirect" rewrite map is simply to preserve SEO and to ensure that any inbound links from other sites are not broken. If you don't change the URLs in your HTML source, then users still see (and are able to copy) the "old" (non-canonical) URLs and every time the user clicks a link they will be externally redirected (doubling the requests to your server and slowing the user).
For example, to implement a "redirect" rewrite map from the "old" to "new" (canonical) URL, create an additional rewrite map:
<rules>
<rule name="CorrectOldURLs" stopProcessing="true">
<match url=".*" />
<conditions>
<add input="{OldRedirects:{REQUEST_URI}}" pattern="(.+)" />
</conditions>
<action type="Redirect" url="https://example.com{C:1}" appendQueryString="False" redirectType="Permanent" />
</rule>
</rules>
<rewriteMaps>
<rewriteMap name="OldRedirects">
<add key="/foo.html" value="/This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember" />
</rewriteMap>
</rewriteMaps>
If this is a new site, then this "redirect" rewrite map is not strictly necessary, since the underlying files should never be exposed.
In Summary
Bringing the above two together, we have:
<rules>
<rule name="RewriteMapping" stopProcessing="true">
<match url=".*" />
<conditions>
<add input="{Test:{REQUEST_URI}}" pattern="(.+)" />
</conditions>
<action type="Rewrite" url="{C:1}" appendQueryString="false" />
</rule>
<rule name="CorrectOldURLs" stopProcessing="true">
<match url=".*" />
<conditions>
<add input="{OldRedirects:{REQUEST_URI}}" pattern="(.+)" />
</conditions>
<action type="Redirect" url="https://example.com{C:1}" appendQueryString="False" redirectType="Permanent" />
</rule>
</rules>
<rewriteMaps>
<rewriteMap name="Test" defaultValue="">
<add key="/This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember" value="/foo.html" />
</rewriteMap>
<rewriteMap name="OldRedirects">
<add key="/foo.html" value="/This-Is-A-Nice-Page-To-Remember" />
</rewriteMap>
</rewriteMaps>
But to emphasise again, as stated above, you must have manually changed the URLs in the HTML source before implementing this. There is no shortcut here.
Reference:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/extensions/url-rewrite-module/using-rewrite-maps-in-url-rewrite-module