Appropirate VS2013 Project Template for AngularJS and Web API 2 Application - asp.net

This question might be ridiculous. Sorry for that.
I have worked with ASP.NET MVC application. Now I would like to start with AngularJS and ASP.Net Web API 2 in my next web application.
In my previous MVC projects, I selected Empty with the MVC checkbox checked.
What project template should i choose to start with?
Thank you.

There is the AngularJS SPA Template available in MSDN.
It has already 18K downloads, used by many, and constantly updated (last update from two weeks ago).
To add WebAPI 2.0, just right-click on the project > Manage NuGet Packages > Find and reference Microsoft ASP.NET Web API 2.1 Web Host
Then activate it in Startup.cs

Select
New project/Web/Asp.NET web application
Then select WEB API (you can change authentication from here)
Your project is created.
Now open nugget packages manager and update to "Microsoft ASP.NET Web API x.x" (currently 2.2).

Related

No Individual User Accounts auth option in ASP.NET Core Web API template

I am a bit confused as to why there is no Individual User Accounts authentication option in the latest ASP.NET Core Web API template.
Is it still possible to implement individual user accounts the way that the MVC template does or would it not make sense?
Let's say I am creating a stand-alone web API that is going to have all of my business logic and data layer that accesses the database which has the AspNet Identity tables. I plan on making calls to this API w/ an MVC app.
I know one way of doing this is to create an asp.net MVC app w/ individual user accounts auth and simply build the API right within the MVC app using a controllers/api folder. However, I don't want to do it this way because I want the API to be its own standalone project that can be hosted on a completely different server and accessed by multiple applications, not just an MVC app.
Can someone lead me in the right direction on how authentication typically works in this scenario since there is no template?
Individual User Accounts authentication option for the ASP.NET Core Web API is available in .NET Core 2.0 Preview 1.
Unfortunately .NET Core 2.0 Preview 1 isn't available in VS 2017 release.
But you can install Visual Studio 2017 Preview (you can use it side-by-side with VS 2017 stable version) :
I think you can use IdentityServer4 which allows implementing single sign-on and access control for ASP .NET Core Web APIs using protocols like OpenID Connect and OAuth2. It offers integration with ASP.NET Core Identity and Entity Framework Core.
You will need to install to the following nuget package:
Install-Package IdentityServer4
and add the IdentityServer middleware to the HTTP pipeline:
app.UseIdentityServer();
You can find several quick start samples here or follow this article.

Web API project template in VS

Why can't we create WebAPI project directly just like "WCF Service Application" template in VS.I want to create separate solution not using MVC or ASP.Net WebForms template. In our project we intend to have service layer on different physical machine hosted by IIS to be consumed by different web applications.
The ASP.NET team is in the process of making their offering more cohesive, an effort they call "One ASP.NET." Under One ASP.NET, MVC, Web Forms, Web API, SignalR, and Entity Framework are all first class citizens. They want to make it easy to create web applications that utilize these technologies without having to give up the others; that is, you can make an MVC project but still use Web Forms; or a Web Forms project can easily add a Web API Project.
Anyway, back to your question: you can't create a Web API project directly (i.e. it's not in the main project template list) anymore because it has been rolled into the the single ASP.NET project type.
They explain,
Starting with Visual Studio 2013, the guessing game about which
project type to choose is over. There is now only one web project type
in Visual Studio.
As you can see from the list of templates, we can choose to start with
a standard Web Forms, MVC, or Web API project type. The other project
types from the old MVC template dialog are still here. The interesting
part is the checkboxes underneath the list of templates. Here, we can
choose to add Web Forms references and folders to an MVC project, or
MVC references and folders to a Web Forms project. This is the gateway
to using more of these features in concert with each other in your
project.
Read the full MSDN blog article about One ASP.NET and the new project types here
You can, however, still create a project (or solution) that contains just the Web API references. Just use the ASP.NET project dialog to choose the Web API project type, and make sure all the other check boxes are unchecked. You'll be able to make your project just for Web API, and then go host it on a dedicated box for your services layer. It's all still there, the UI just looks a little different.

can I add the Web API folders to an existing project?

Microsoft has a great tutorial here for learning how to build Web API web apps in Visual Studio 2013:
http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/getting-started-with-aspnet-web-api/tutorial-your-first-web-api
in it, he shows you how to include the Web API folders and references:
...is there a way to add these to a previous ASP.NET Webforms project that didnt have that checkbox selected? I'm working on an existing app and want to add Web API functionality to it.
thanks
yes -- there is a tutorial for adding Web API to an existing ASP.NET Webforms project here:
http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/creating-web-apis/using-web-api-with-aspnet-web-forms
...it doesn't create the Models, Controllers, or App_Start folders, but i added them manually and placed my files from another stand-alone project there. once adjusting the namespaces it all operates properly.

Adding Web API to existing asp.net web forms Application

My team wants to upgrade from WCF to Web API. We have a working asp.net web form application, that we have imported to VS2012 from VS2010. So far so good.
But now as I try to make a separate Web API project, I see that there is no Web API template available. The closest thing that I can find is by creating an MVC 4 application and setting the Project Template as WebAPI. I followed this way and everything falls in perfectly. I have the working API with a sample controller that I can invoke by making calls from the browser.
The only downside to this is that, this particular method brings in its own baggage. The MVC 4 project I created has JQUERY and other libraries included, plus some other folders that I probably don't need. What I want is the Web API structure only - and not the extra baggage.
I tried finding a template using online search but the package I found does not work properly and as very poor rating.
I hope I have illustrated my problem properly. I am looking forward for some feedback now :) Thanks.
In Visual Studio 2013
Right-click on the ASP.NET Web Forms project.
Add -> Add Scaffolded Item... or New Scaffolded Item...
Under Installed/Common/MVC/Web API choose the scaffold type you wish
to use.
Follow the instructions for the scaffold template. For example, when you choose "Web API 2 Controller with read/write actions" or "Web API 2 Controller - Empty", you are prompted for a controller name
You will then need to move the recently created controller into the recently created Controllers folder.
Results
From what I can see, Visual Studio does the following:
"App_Start/WebApiConfig2.cs" is created.
Controllers folder is created.
Web.config is edited to add "handlers" element with content in "system.webServer".
The following references are added:
System.Net.Http
System.Net.Http.Formatting
System.Web.Extensions
System.Web.Http
System.Web.Http.WebHost
packages.config is updated to include:
"Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi"
"Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client"
"Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Core"
"Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.WebHost"
Notes
Subsequently, I recommend following the same steps, starting with right-clicking on the Controllers folder instead of the project. This will put the new controller in the Controllers folder instead of at the root level.
Readme from Visual Studio after following the above steps:
Visual Studio has added the full set of dependencies for ASP.NET Web API 2 to project 'RowersCode.Web'.
The Global.asax.cs file in the project may require additional changes to enable ASP.NET Web API.
Add the following namespace references:
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Routing;
If the code does not already define an Application_Start method, add the following method:
protected void Application_Start()
{
}
Add the following lines to the beginning of the Application_Start method:
GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig2.Register);
After much research I have been able to come up with a solution to this problem. Let me illustrate my solution with respect to the Visual Studio Version.
VS 2012
As I mentioned in the question, there is no definite way to create the Web API project in VS2012. You are gonna have to do it by creating an MVC 4 application and setting the Project Template as WebAPI. Then once you have done this and you have your Web API functional, you can safely delete the extra baggage like the Jquery libraries and other stuff, because these things are absolutely of no use here in your project.
VS 2013
In VS2013 there is however a better approach followed to add and manage the Web API projects. Currently I am using VS2013 for the Web API and all things have fallen into place just as I wanted. Kindly see this link and you will get a better idea
http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/getting-started-with-aspnet-web-api/tutorial-your-first-web-api
I hope this information will help all those new to Web API. Especially for those who want to upgrade to Web API or add Web API to existing projects.

I'm having trouble understanding exactly what ASP is and how to upload an ASP website

As of the start of this week I've been required to start learning how to develop websites in ASP. I have a moderate level of experience with C# through XNA, so that part of it isn't much trouble for me.
I've been following a Music Store Tutorial which takes me though setting up an "ASP.NET MVC 3" application.
I'm about done with the tutorial and have a functioning site when I run a test locally, but I don't understand what files need to be uploaded. I've worked on front-end updates for ASP websites before but they were completely different to this in terms of what files made up the site and so on.
I don't see a single .aspx page in my project which is what I assumed an ASP site was made of from experience. I'm starting to think that those projects weren't MVC projects but maybe just the "ASP.NET Web Application" style project.
Are ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC different? From what I vaguely understand, MVC is just a framework that wraps ASP.NET? Also, is ASP something or is that just a synonym for ASP.NET? Finally back to my initial confusion, what files are to be uploaded onto the server when I want to launch an ASP.NET MVC project?
Do I just upload this entire directory and the server will handle it in the same way that the inbuilt testing ASP server does? Or is the site compiled down into a couple of files somehow and I just upload one of these directories (I think I read that somewhere).
ASP is an acronym for Active Server Pages. Pre .NET, ASP was Microsoft's first iteration scripted web pages. All of those pages typically ended with the extension .ASP.
When .NET was released, ASP was overhauled significantly and renamed ASP.NET. The new version of ASP.NET attempted to model web development similar to windows application development, where you used controls and an event handling model. That was Microsoft's primary model for web page development for many years, and it still around and supported, but today it is referred to as ASP.NET Web Forms. ASP.NET Web Forms pages typically have the .ASPX extension you mentioned.
In the mid-2000s or so, Ruby on Rails took off, using an MVC based model for developing web applications. A few years later, Microsoft released an alternate version of ASP.NET, called ASP.NET MVC, which used similar concepts. Many people feel the MVC approach is a more natural method for developing web pages than the web forms model (note epic Q/A threads on this very site a few years ago). In any case, ASP.NET MVC shares parts with ASP.NET Web Forms, but looks and works pretty differently; for one thing, there are no .ASPX pages as MVC, for the most part, uses a different form of routing to determine what to display.
That's a very brief history that glosses over a whole lot of subjects. What you've posted a screenshot of, is an ASP.NET MVC project.
As far as publishing is concerned, the typical route for publishing an ASP.NET website is to open the project in Visual Studio, select Build|Publish, and tell VS where to put it. Depending on what method you use, you may have to do additional configuration in IIS on the box where you published the site.
First off, when you say ASP, you're referring to old (obsolete) tech. ASP.NET is specifically what you're referring to in your question.
ASP.NET is a Microsoft technology which works cooperatively with the IIS server to provide a "Windows Application" type experience with web sites. Your web site logic is compiled in to a .NET DLL "Class Library." When a web request hits IIS with a URL matching your application directory, IIS starts up your application internally and maintains it.
I don't understand what files need to be uploaded
Visual Studio actually has a built in publisher available for your use. See the Build -> Publish menu in VS / Web Developer.
I don't see a single .aspx page in my project which is what I assumed an ASP site was made of from experience.
ASP.NET Web Forms uses the aspx extension for Pages, their frontend rendering component. On the other hand, ASP.NET MVC uses the concept of Views, which are not relient on a specific component. See the next paragraph.
Are ASP.NET and ASP.NET MVC different?
Yes. No. Maybe. ASP.NET contains all the "magic" which allows IIS - the web server - run the web application and serve up web pages. Volumes could (and have) been written on this. ASP.NET also supports much configuration through the means of Http Modules and Providers. These components are declared and configured through the web apps web.config file and are typically automagically created and persisted by IIS and ASP.NET. They collectively make up the glue that makes ASP.NET just work out of the box.
MVC was built on top of the existing foundation classes of ASP.NET. Some features have been loaned, a few have been replaced and more than a handful have been created in order to support the model-view-controller pattern.
For example, MVC gives us support for View Engines - a runtime library which allows us to write our Views (web pages) in a particular format. The ASPX View Engine existed during MVC's launch. Later came Razor, employing the .cshtml extension. Users of the MVC Framework have implemented a wide variety of their own view engines as well. This is possible due to the modular nature of ASP.NET and MVC.
Do I just upload this entire directory and the server will handle it in the same way that the inbuilt testing ASP server does? Or is the site compiled down into a couple of files somehow and I just upload one of these directories (I think I read that somewhere).
I would recommend using the Build -> Publish menu in Visual Studio. You may use web deploy if your host supports it, but FTP and File System methods are available as well.
The bin folder contains the class libraries required to run your web application on the server. The web.config file provides the configuration to do so. However your Views are not compiled in to the assembly. They are published as-is and are rendered lazily by the view engine.
You are probably familiar with ASP.NET WebForms, this is an MVC project. You can find more here:
ASP.NET MVC
In order to upload the site, you need to publish the website from inside Visual Studio to a local file location and then upload everything to the website.
If the target server doesn't have MVC installed, you can right click on the website project in Visual Studio and select "Add Deployable Dependencies".
This will ensure that the server has all the required files to run an MVC project.

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