This mini project is to learn how to build MVC architecture in .NET framework with C#.
Despite comments added by my own for learning purpose and ease of reference, the whole set of materials belongs to Microsoft.
If you are interested in learning C#, please visit the following link for more details :) Thanks!
Create a web API with ASP.NET Core controllers
Step 1 - basic setup:
In .NET CLI, mkdir to create a new folder, cd into it, and run dotnet new webapi -f net6.0 to create a boilerplate.
Step 2 - basic setup:
Run dotnet run to build from the boilerplate, you should be able to see 2 ports are used, one starts with 7 and one 5, for both HTTPS and HTTP.
Open the path (https://localhost:{PORT}/weatherforecast) in browser to check if it is accessible. If not, ensure the CAs (certificate authorities) in browser are setup.
Step 3 - basic setup:
Run dotnet tool install -g Microsoft.dotnet-httprepl to install globally Httprepl, a lightweighted CLI tool for making requests to RESTful APIs.
Step 4 - basic setup:
Run httprepl https://localhost:{PORT} to connect to the path (ensure the server is still listening in another terminal).
**
Httprepl:
run ls to list out all possible requests.
run cd to navigate to particular endpoint.
run get or post or any other methods available to make the request.
run exit to leave.
**
Step 5 - setup Model (for simplicity, here will be just local in-memory caching service): Create a new folder called "Models" - if not using .NET Core MVC template. Create a file inside the folder, here it is called "Pizza". Create a namespace for this file, here it is called "ContosoPizza.Models", and a public class below, which contains the following public fields:
- public int Id {get; set;}
- pubilc string? Name {get; set;}
- public bool IsGlutenFree {get;set;}
Step 6 - setup Service Create a new folder called "Services". Create a file inside the folder, here it is called "PizzaService".
Services/PizzaServices.cs
using the Model we just created on top don't forget to create a namespace for the file create a public static class in which
2 private properties - initialID & ListOfPizzas with getter;
Constructor holding 2 default pizzas
5 public actions/methods:
- GetAll() return ListOfPizza
- Get(int id) => [Instance].FirstOrDefault(p => p.id == id)
[Enumerable].FirstOrDefault(Func) Returns the first element of a sequence, or a default value if no element is found.
- Add(Pizza pizza) => add pizza to ListOfPizza, return void
- Delete(int id) => get pizza by Get(int id), if its null, return, else [Instance].Remove(pizza) [List].Remove(item)
- Update(Pizza pizza) => get the index of that pizza by List.FindIndex(Func), if -1 return, else assign the existing pizza id with new pizza content.
Step 7 - setup Controller Create a file inside Controllers directory, as convention, named as xxxController.cs List out all the libraries on top of the file with directive "using" Create a namespace right after, with the name XXX.Controller for ease of reference Create a public class extending from "ControllerBase" Preceding to the class just created, apply the attribute of ApiController And also [Route("controller")] which decides the endpoint through the filename Then, inside the public class, add public methods/actions with type of ActionResult, indicating the behavours from various actions(eg GET) Not to forget to add controller attribute [HttpGet] / [HttpGet()]
PS Do not create same method with same parameters or the build will fail or when trying to connect, it will throw SwaggerGeneratorException indicatinig conflicting method/path.
Other than GET, we can handle other controller actions, including PUT, POST and DELETE Instead of ActionResult as type, they are IActionResult
For POST, when it is successful, we will use the method "CreatedAtAction" to insert to database and return 201. CreatedAtAction takes 3 parameters: nameof(actionName), routeValues, value For details, check (here)[https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/microsoft.aspnetcore.mvc.controllerbase.createdataction?view=aspnetcore-7.0]
Other methods include NotFound(), BadRequest(), NoContent().