How does MVC and web API work together in an application?
Are you supposed to use javascript binding (with knockout.js and ajax calls) and just use MVC for the actual container page?
Or do you call web API from the MVC controller (like a WCF service layer)?
The integration of MVC and web API just isn't clear to me.
Should I use Web API if I regulary require HTML to be returned (i.e. I want to work with Partials)?
I'd like to use web API so I can scale my app though (return HTML from one side, but remain with an API that can return/process XML)!
Thanks for clearing it up :)
This picture below from the link explains clearly how MVC and Web Api work together:
Technically, you can call from MVC to Web API, but it is not really the best practice since:
Calling from MVC to Web API will across the network (distribution), this makes your application more complex.
Web Api is REST Api, it is not like WCF which is heavily SOAP Api (although WCF support REST Api). So, from JavaScript you can call the Web Api easier using ajax.
Here's how I set up my latest MVC and Web API application: There's the regular model layer (*M*VC) and I have created a service layer for the business rules. The controllers of my MVC application call the service layer to process data from and to the views.
My Web API application is a external interface to the methods on the service layer, therefore both the controllers on the MVC application and on the Web API application call the service layer. I hope this helps.
Related
I have an Asp.net application hosted on one domain say abc.com and I have another MVC Web API hosted on a different domain say api.abc.com.
Now from the web application(abc.com), I am making a javascript ajax call to my web api endpoint(api.abc.com/getproducts) which is not the same domain. So what are the different mechanism i can use to authenticate the API calls made to api endpoint? The goal is to secure api so can avoid unauthenticated calls and also avoid unnecessarily complex structure.
Is it good practice to make web API call from javascript? via Ajax request.
This is a very broad question, here are some links from what I can gleam from your question. My suggestion for the future is to include code, and make the question more specific.
Security and Authentication in MVC applications: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/mvc/overview/security/
CORS: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/security/cors?view=aspnetcore-3.1
.NET Core: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/security/authentication/?view=aspnetcore-3.1
Similar Question: Cross-domain authentication ASP.net MVC
I have a MVC web application and I make some ajax calls from the client to get back json data. Right now I just use MVC Action methods to return this data. I was wondering if I should be using the ASP.Net Web Api for these.
I understand that if I was building a REST solution I should be using it.
But in this case would it be justified to add the extra complexity? Is there any speed gain? I don't really need the Content Negotiation feature or the OData Support.
According to the post here (and the benchmark it references), Web API is a bit faster. Web api performance?
ASP.net Web api support both JSON and xml. Web Api is for implement rest web service on top of MVC application. It would add extra complexity for the application but you implement web api related method in separate controller.
Rest web services are usually faster than Normal SOAP web services.
In your case if your clients are just a web client no need to implement web services. But If you need to share service for different client (widows applications, windows services, third party applications) implement rest service using web API
I saw that ASP.Net MVC4 WebApi exposes services as a Rest ones.
But what is actually the difference between normal Rest and ASP.Net MVC4 WebApi?
I'm not sure what you mean by normal Rest.
REST is a paradigm.
HTTP is a protocol that follows that paradigm.
ASP.NET Web API allows developers to write ASP.NET applications that can be accessed via HTTP and adhere to the REST paradigm. While you could create a REST API without Web API, Web API provides a ton of features that will remove a lot of the pain associated with creating a truly RESTful API in ASP.NET.
apigee has many great resources for REST API best practicies.
Are you asking about the general REST standard or the way that REST has been done traditionally on the Microsoft platform prior to the MVC4 Web API? I am thinking you are approaching this as the second one.
The updated approach in MVC4 gives you more REST capabilities without the WCF model. Here is a recent post on the subject: http://mattmilner.com/Milner/Blog/post/2012/02/28/WebAPI-or-WCF.aspx.
What is the difference between making calls to mvc controller methods and WCF WEB API Rest Service Calls?
I can create an mvc controller post method that will allow me to execute any code i need.
I can also create a WCF Web API REST Service with MVC.
What is the difference between these two approaches to accessing data ?
More specifically what are the advantages of utilizing WCF in this scenario ?
WCF Web API handles XML and JSON out of the box whereas you'll have to create your XML and JSON "by hand" (read: using the Serializers) when using MVC - this is only one of the benefits of WCF Web API over MVC.
Another one is the level of separation WCF Web API offers e.g. implementing your service logic vs. content negotiation.
Yet you can easily use IoC containers and unit test your APIs being created using WCF Web API.
WCF Web API mainly has been created to build ReSTful API's whereas MVC just allows it to create them too - thus with WCF Web API you'll feel more comfortable creating ReST APIs.
If you're planning to start a project from scratch as an Web (ReST) Api, you should start with WCF Web API.
If you're planning to start with a Website that also offers ReSTful Services, you should suggest MVC.
You should also regard this tweet from Glenn Block.
You could accomplish a typical REST API with either one.
Usually the issue boils down to (1) what specific features you need and (2) what technology you are more familiar with.
There are some features of WCF that are really neat and not available in MVC (like binary serializations, the ability to host without IIS, et cetera) but those are not typically requirements in a REST API.
Overall I would say:
If you have an WCF implementation already in place and want to expose it as a REST API go for it with WCF.
If you already have an MVC site and want to expose it as a REST API stick with MVC.
A Guide to Designing and Building RESTful Web Services with WCF 3.5, this article explains the foundations of REST and how it relates to WCF. MVC uses REST as the architectural model. I am guessing one can use the .NET MVC to create web applications that have both a front end and an API point, but I am not sure if the safe way of building the API is to build it with WCF and then use it in the MVC as a controller.
Please comment if the question is not clear, I will add or modify the text.
Theres actually a third option, ADO.NET Data Servies. Anyway, here how I see them.
MVC REST: Gives you full control over how to expose your data, you have to write all the code to get it up an running tho, e.g. serialization, deserialization, all the CRUD methods etc etc. Worht metioning that this being an MVC site means you are limited to exposing your service via IIS over HTTP(S)
WCF REST: More automation than MVC, a much more solid frameowkr than MVC REST, i.e. caching, security, error handling etc (basically all the stff you'd have to write yourself using plain MVC). Being WCF, you can host this in a variety of ways (e.g WS-, TCP) etc.
ADO.NET DATA SERVICES: The quickest way to get up an running with everthing ready to use, all you need todo is configure the global.asax, however you have to use an Entity Data Model, which you many not want to.
Personally, I would use either ADO.NET DATA SERVICES or WCF REST to build an API, consue that API in MVC site and then expose that API either directly, or by passing it through another layer.
ASP.NET MVC can serve as a REST endpoint for light services work, so I guess the answer to your question depends on how you define "safe."
Clearly WCF is designed specifically for creating REST endpoints, with all of the security implications that are implied thereof, whereas ASP.NET MVC is designed to create REST endpoints which can be used by ASP.NET MVC itself.
The following article shows how to create a web service using an ASP.NET MVC controller:
Create REST API using ASP.NET MVC that speaks both Json and plain Xml
http://msmvps.com/blogs/omar/archive/2008/10/03/create-rest-api-using-asp-net-mvc-that-speaks-both-json-and-plain-xml.aspx
See also the following article from Phil Haack, which discusses an SDK the WCF team put together for users of ASP.NET MVC:
Rest For ASP.NET MVC SDK and Sample
http://haacked.com/archive/2009/08/17/rest-for-mvc.aspx
They are two different sets of technologies, only related by being built on .net
MVC is used to create websites and provides a model where URLs are routed to controllers and controllers deliver views to the user as the user interface.
WCF is a set of libraries in .net that are used to abstract the type of service (is it hosted in a windows service, as a webservice in IIS etc.) as well as the protocol (HTTP, TCP, MSMQ etc.) from the client and server which are communicating.
An MVC website may use WCF to connect to a web service, but that is just one of many options.