What are the advantages of using ASP.NET Web API?
ASP.NET is an open-source framework developed by Microsoft. It is a server-side web framework designed to create dynamic web pages. It offers different frameworks for building services and web applications. One of them is Web API.
ASP.NET Web API is a framework that eases the process of building HTTP services to reach a broad range of browsers and mobile devices.
Perks of using ASP.NET Web API
It has a number of advantages over other web service frameworks. Let's walk through a few of them.
1. Lightweight architecture
ASP.NET Web API is a lightweight framework, making it easy to deploy and scale.
2. Support for routing
ASP.NET Web API supports routing, making defining the URLs used to access your web services easy. Let's look at an example:
// Define a route for the UsersController that returns a user in JSON format.routes.MapHttpRoute(name: "UsersApiJson",routeTemplate: "api/users/{id}",defaults: new { controller = "Users", action = "Get", format = "json" });
In the above coding example, a route is defined for UsersController to retrieve a user in the JSON format.
3. URL patterns and HTTP methods
It supports URL patterns and HTTP methods giving more control over how web services are accessed.
// Define a route for the UsersController that deletes a user.routes.MapHttpRoute(name: "UsersApiDelete",routeTemplate: "api/users/{id}",defaults: new { controller = "Users", action = "Delete" },method: HttpMethod.Delete);
In the above coding example, the URL is defined using routeTemplate and HTTP method is defined using the method attribute.
4. Stateless transfer support
It supports the stateless transfer of data. This means that each request is independent of the previous request. This makes it possible for the server to handle multiple requests at the same time, which can improve the performance of the web service.
5. Support for OData
ASP.NET Web API supports OData, which is an open protocol that makes it easy to create queryable and interoperable RESTful APIs.
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