Bitrix elements duplicates. How to fix?

Question

1C-Bitrix

On the site, all the elements are in subsections,
the path should be "root/section/subsection/element"
And in fact, the detailed page opens both along this path:
"root/section/subsection/element"
and this:
"root/section/ element"
Is it possible to make the second option open 404?
Or just specify canonical?

Answer 1

There are a lot of options
- there is a setting "specify the main section"
- 301 redirect
- canonical

Answer 2

This is not a problem with the infoblock or component settings. The problem is in the architecture or routing configuration.
If, in principle, you have a situation where some goods are on the first level of the section, i.e. you have products that have such a path root / section / subsection / element does not work in principle, because there is no subsection, then the problem is in the architecture and it cannot be solved, as it contradicts it.
Simply put - how should the system, without referring to the catalog, distinguish a product that has a subsection from a product that does not have a subsection? It's impossible. There is only one option - throw 404 in the detailed display script if the product is not opened at the canonical address. Those. modify the catalog detail view component.
If, for ANY product, a path of the form root/section/subsection/element can be formed, i.e. the canonical path of any product ALWAYS includes a section and one subsection, then the problem is easily solved by manually setting urlrewrite