Here we will create simple Web API Application using MVC 4 with Razor

What is Web API?

From msdn, ASP.NET Web API is a framework that makes it easy to build HTTP services that reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. ASP.NET Web API is an ideal platform for building RESTful applications on the .NET Framework.

When to use Web API?

  •    Web API when you want to create a resource based services over HTTP that can use the full features of HTTP    (like   URIs, request/response headers,various content formats).
  •   Use Web API when we want to expand service at wide way like mobile,browser,tablet…
  •   If we need a Web Service and without using SOAP, then ASP.Net Web API is best choice.

why we use Web API ?

WCF gives you the flexibility to use other protocols, but the REST implementation is a bit more complicated when compare to Web API

For Detail about REST , Go here

Example :

Step : 1

Create new project -> choose MVC Web Application and click ok

webAPI1

Step : 2

Next, in project template choose Web API and click ok

webAPI2
After creating Web API application we can see the same structure as MVC Application but in App_start, separate router file is created for Web API (that is WebApiConfig.cs) as shown below.

Step : 3

Open Values controller (which was created in default for Web API) ie., ValuesController

webAPI3
Here i made with simple changes like below ,

public class ValuesController : ApiController
{
// GET api/values
public IEnumerable<string> Get()
{
return new string

[] { “aadharsh”, “GnanamKavi” };
}
public string Get(int id)
{
if (id == 1){
return “Get value using id” +”–>”+ id;
}
if (id == 2){
return “Get value using id” + “–>” + id;
}
return null;
}
}

NOTE :

  •   In MVC Application controller implements Controller interface but in Web API controller implements      ApiController as base
  •   In web API controller, action methods are actually HTTP methods ie., GET,PUT…

Step :  4

Run the Application. When we run the Web API using below URL,

http://localhost:53934/api/Values :   The Web API route to Get() method (WebApiConfig.cs) as shown below, because there is no parameter append after the method (URL without parameter)

http://localhost:53934/api/Values/1 :  The Web API route to Get(int id) method (WebApiConfig.cs) as shown below, because there is a parameter append after the method (URL with parameter)

Note :

  • Web API is a light weight architecture and good for various device which have limited bandwidth like smart phones.
  • It also supports the MVC features such as routing, controllers, action, filter… this makes  us very simple and robust
  • Using Web API, we can get the resource in various format (like xml,json..)
  • let we see how to call PUT,DELETE methods with simple explanation

  First we want to include in web.config

<system.webServer><modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests=”true”></modules ></system.webServer>

then we can call using jquery (type : ‘PUT’/’DELETE’/’POST’/’GET’)

$.ajax({
url: ‘/api/Values/’ + truckId,
type: ‘PUT’,
contentType: “application/json; charset=utf-8”,
data: json,
success: function (results) {
}
});

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