I have an existing Asp.Net MVC Website and I would also like to provide a Web Service from the same domain.
What is the best way to approach creating a web service in this scenerio?
Do I add to this project or...?
You should be able to add an WebService file directly to the MVC project.
Right click on solution and select add new item, then select the web category and att the bottom of the list there should be Web Service.
Just remember to check that the routes does not eat up the call to the webservice.
That way the webservice can get access to the same model classes as the MVC application.
You can add a web service to the project just as you do in regular ASP.NET web apps, however, MVC basically IS a web service. You could create a controller that handles all the requests that you want your web service to handle.
With the advent of MVC it is quite common to do applications that only ever load a view once, then use AJAX and client scripting almost the entire rest of the life of the application. Your AJAX calls just hit up action methods for their goods and then use the deliciousness that is JSON to parse the data and utilize it.
In my opinion designing a web service as a controller instead of using [WebMethods] is far simpler and a lot more fun!
First, the question is "what do we mean by web service?" This can mean anything from a MVC page that responds using XML, JSON or some other agreed upon format to full blown SOAP and WS-* encumbered nightmares.
Anyhow, perhaps the best place to start is the WCF restful services -- these play very nicely with MVC, including routing.
The cool kids are using openrasta.
Related
I've explored the ASP.net web API framework and MVC 4. I understand the point of using web API that only return data then in client side we use javascript, ajax to handle all actions via HTTP verbs. On the other hand, MVC controller can return data and view we can handle event via [HttpPost] in controller.
I saw some people they make 2 projects in a solution: one is Web API in MVC 4 and the other is MVC 4 Internet Application. Is it a good idea? I didnt see the relation between two kind of projects. Can anyone explain me the how two project can communicate with each other, and what is the advantage and disadvantage of that way?
Note: in this solution he/she still uses Httppost to handle event and use MVC controller return view with Model binding.
Well I guess this is going to be a pragmatic conversation...
For starters, it seems like the Asp.net WebApi and Asp.net MVC are going to be aligned in Asp.Net V-Next, so there is going to be One base controller class that will return what ever datatype you wish (ActionResult, Json etc).
And from the recent years experience I think the trend is to have a WebApi that exposes data and a portal(client) that is just a JS web application with no C# code that just calls the Api from the browser and does what it needs to do.
So that way we basically save one hup to the server(the MVC server) and we can directly call the API from the browser.
However some people would still argue about load balancing, scaling, caching etc that you could have if you keep the MVC tier there but still all those things could be done in the WebApi and JS application too...
So long story short, I think if you want to move with the trend I think you should go with a RESTful API and have your client to call it from the browser directly with JavaScript...
Cenario
Website: ASP.Net MVC 5 managing models, controllers and views.
Api: RESTful Web api managing models, controllers and returning JSON
The problem: Code duplication in BL. We are always redoing the same logic in both places.
The approach I have in mind:
Take the BL out of the Website MVC and keep it only in Web Api in a separated VS solution
The Website now is a consumer of Web Api
About the content negotiation, I think in two options:
Web Api "knows" which format to return (ViewResult, JSON or XML) and serialize/deserialize in BL depending of who is requesting (website, mobile apps, etc.). The advantage I see is to keep taking
advantage of strongly typed model to render a view in Website
Web Api always return JSON and the consumer app handle result in client
Questions:
Is this approach a good practise?
Which is better: Web Api always returning JSON or a smart Web Api who "knows" which format to return?
Like #David said, you don't really need to consume web services in your MVC controllers. You could just design it in such a way that your MVC and API layers are just another "view" to your Business layer. So, in case you are thinking in a terms of your visual studio solution, your might have a Data layer project, a Business layer project and 2 front end projects MVC and API.
I have been using asp.net MVC for around 1.5 years, am enjoying its capabilities, and have deployed many successful web applications, but I'm currently reading about the asp.net Web API technology. And, I find the following:
I can implement any functionality that I used to implement using MVC; using the new Web API and in a more lightweight approach.
It is easier to develop web services using the Web API comparing the asp.net MVC.
So, will the asp.net Web API take over asp.net MVC in the future, or each technology will have its own area to grow in, or should we consider using both of them in the same web application?
Besides the #jmoerdyk's answer, I would like to point something out:
The key is to understand the goal of each technology:
Web API.
This will be the new API for creating web services, this is an alternative to traditional XML services and WCF services, so it's worth pointing out first the main difference between WEB API and the rest of the Web service frameworks.
The primary difference between Web API and WCF/ASMX services is that it's not based on SOAP it's based on HTTP Therefore you can take advantage of all the HTTP features like:
It contains message headers that are very meaningful and descriptive - headers that suggest the content type of the message’s body, headers that explain how to cache information, how to secure it etc.
use of verbs to define the actions (POST, PUT, DELETE..)
it contains a body that can be used to send any kind of content
It uses URIs for identifying both information paths (resources) and actions
That was the main goal of the Web APIs, known back then as the WCF Web APIs: to stop looking at HTTP through the eyes of WCF - as just a transport protocol to pass requests. Rather, it allows us to look at it as the real application-level protocol it is – a rich, interoperable, resource-oriented protocol. The purpose of the Web APIs was to properly use URIs, HTTP headers, and body to create HTTP services for the web, and for everyone else that wished to embrace HTTP as its protocol and lifelong friend.
Take a look to this article for more information: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/341414/WCF-or-ASP-NET-Web-APIs-My-two-cents-on-the-subjec
So basically the Web API could actually be compared against WCF or XML Services
If you are wondering what's going to happen with WCF?
So the fact was we had too many options and therefore too much confusion. What were we to do? We merge teams! (Kind of reminds us of the time of LINQ-to-SQL and Entity Framework, WCF and Ado.Net Data Services and other such examples). So the WCF team and the ASP.NET team joined forces and created a new framework focused on the world of REST/Hypermedia/HTTP services for the web world and thus came out the ASP.NET Web APIs.
MVC
Now that you know what's the goal of the Web API, then it should be easier to say why MVC contains additional functionality to render views primarily.
Your concern is based on the fact that WEB API is actually based on MVC, but their goals are different
On the other hand, the ASP.NET MVC infrastructure with its elegant handling of HTTP requests and responses, and its support of easy-to-create controllers seemed like the proper way to go for creating this new type of services
No, they don't really do the same thing.
Web API is really only for generating JSON, XML or other text based responses for implementing REST based APIs. MVC can do that as well, but the new Web API appears to make it easier, particularly with the automatic content type negotiation.
What MVC does that Web API is not intended for is generating full or partial HTML pages with Views and such.
So each one has their own purpose in the ASP.Net framework and not likely to surpass the other.
WebAPI and MVC are two different things, but they both work in the same framework. WebAPI is used for restful services. MVC is used for web pages.
You can create restful services in MVC, with a lot more work than in WebAPI. The reverse is not true. You can't create Web pages in WebAPI. Therefore, your question is fundamentally confused.
They are going to be merged in new versions, technically both works similar, but API don't have views attached so delivers better performance
I have just experimented my first ajax enabled WCF service in a sample asp.net webform application... If i have 10-15 pages in my webapplication which involves add,edit,view and delete operations, is it possible to make them ajax post and get without using .cs(codebehind) of all pages...
What are the pros and cons when choosing ajax enabled WCF service in an asp.net webform application?
At first, if you want to implement the server side of jQuery Ajax calls, you can do this with either ASMX or WCF services. You can find a short comparison between these two here. WCF is more modern technology and will be my preferred choice for new projects. It can provide you with the following:
Help you program against an interface
It will serialize/deserialize objects to JSON for you. No need for JSON libraries
Provides client methods that you can use (via the ScriptManager). It is also easy to use jQuery if you prefer
As an disadvantage I would say that it will take you some time to learn the technology. I found that proper configuration of web.config was a little tricky.
I usually have a single svc service that serves all Ajax requests. You can implement as many methods as you want in a single service. The services are called from different pages.
Does adding a Web Service to my ASP.NET MVC project break the whole concept of MVC?
That Web Service (WCF) depends on the Model layer from my MVC project to communicate with the back-end (so it looks to me like it needs to be part of the MVC solution).
Should I add this to the Controller or Model layer?
It sounds like you should split out your model into its own assembly and reference it from your MVC-application and WCF-application.
YourApp.Data -- Shared model and data access maybe
YourApp.Web -- If you want to share more across your web-apps
YourApp.Web.Mvc
YourApp.Web.WebService
If you want to do WebServices MVC-style maybe you should use MVC to build your own REST-application.
Is there a specific reason you need to add web services to your MVC application? Unless there is a specific reason you should use your controllers in a RESTful manner just as you would a RESTful web service.
Check out this post from Rob Connery for more information:
ASP.Net MVC: Using RESTful architecture
Separating the Model into it's own project is not breaking the "MVC" pattern. First off, it is just that -- a pattern. The intention of the MVC pattern is to clearly delineate between your data, the data handlers, and the presenters and the way you interface between them. The best way to do it is how Seb suggested:
YourApp.Data
YourApp.Web.Mvc
YourApp.Web.WebService
Something that might help you out is the MVC Storefront that Rob Conery put together. Go watch the video's here:
MVC Storefront Video Series
And if you want to look at the actual code in your browser to quickly see how he did it, go here:
MVC Storefront Codeplex Code Browser
I don't think separating the model into it's own assembly has any bearing on whether or not you're using MVC, you still have a model. Where it is is irrelevant surely?
I've had a go at doing this.
See my result at my blog
ps: I don't believe that this will break the MVC concept so long as you think that a web service is the model of a repository because all a web service does is returning a XML dump.
I have added web services to my application and it works well. I don't believe it violates MVC because it is an alternative interface to your model. MVC is not appropriate for web services because web services don't have a view.
Think of web services and databases as one in the same. Under this analogy, I think it makes sense to place your web service ingteractions where you place your database logic.