How to add Web API to an existing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Application project?
UPDATE 11/22/2013 - this is the latest WebApi package:
Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi
Original answer (this is an older WebApi package)
Install-Package AspNetWebApi
More details.
The steps I needed to perform were:
- Add reference to
System.Web.Http.WebHost
. - Add
App_Start\WebApiConfig.cs
(see code snippet below). - Import namespace
System.Web.Http
inGlobal.asax.cs
. - Call
WebApiConfig.Register(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration)
inMvcApplication.Application_Start()
(in fileGlobal.asax.cs
), before registering the default Web Application route as that would otherwise take precedence. - Add a controller deriving from
System.Web.Http.ApiController
.
I could then learn enough from the tutorial (Your First ASP.NET Web API) to define my API controller.
App_Start\WebApiConfig.cs:
using System.Web.Http;
class WebApiConfig
{
public static void Register(HttpConfiguration configuration)
{
configuration.Routes.MapHttpRoute("API Default", "api/{controller}/{id}",
new { id = RouteParameter.Optional });
}
}
Global.asax.cs:
using System.Web.Http;
...
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
WebApiConfig.Register(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration);
RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(BundleTable.Bundles);
}
Update 10.16.2015:
Word has it, the NuGet package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi must be installed for the above to work.
As soon as you add a "WebApi Controller" under controllers folder, Visual Studio takes care of dependencies automatically;
Visual Studio has added the full set of dependencies for ASP.NET Web API 2 to project 'MyTestProject'.
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(WebApiConfig.Register);
To add WebAPI in my MVC 5 project.
Open NuGet Package manager console and run
PM> Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi
Add references to
System.Web.Routing
,System.Web.Net
andSystem.Net.Http
dlls if not there alreadyRight click controllers folder > add new item > web > Add Web API controller
Web.config will be modified accordingly by VS
Add
Application_Start
method if not there alreadyprotected void Application_Start() { //this should be line #1 in this method GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register); }
Add the following class (I added in global.asax.cs file)
public static class WebApiConfig { public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config) { // Web API routes config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes(); config.Routes.MapHttpRoute( name: "DefaultApi", routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}", defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional } ); } }
Modify web api method accordingly
namespace <Your.NameSpace.Here> { public class VSController : ApiController { // GET api/<controller> : url to use => api/vs public string Get() { return "Hi from web api controller"; } // GET api/<controller>/5 : url to use => api/vs/5 public string Get(int id) { return (id + 1).ToString(); } } }
Rebuild and test
Build a simple html page
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title></title> <script src="../<path_to_jquery>/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> var uri = '/api/vs'; $(document).ready(function () { $.getJSON(uri) .done(function (data) { alert('got: ' + data); }); $.ajax({ url: '/api/vs/5', async: true, success: function (data) { alert('seccess1'); var res = parseInt(data); alert('got res=' + res); } }); }); </script> </head> <body> .... </body> </html>