Rewriting the URL in a Web API Project - c#

In my first Web API project, I'm using attribute routing to direct incoming requests to my product details logic in what I believe to be a straight forward manner:
[Route("v1/inventory/{stock}/add")]
public IHttpActionResult PostAddSku(string stockNumber)
{
// stuff
}
But my customer wants to invoke the logic with a URL formatted as so:
http://localhost:57863/api/v1/inventoy
And in the request body:
action=add&stockNumber=ABC
I must accommodate my customer and recognize that I need to rewrite his incoming url to my expected structure, but am not sure where the best place to do that is. Do I do it in RouteConfig.cs? and if so, what is the most efficient way to inspect that action variable in the request body (which has 4 or 5 acceptable values each of which map to a particular action method in my controller?

Related

How to use multiple parameters when sending data as application/json in controller

I have the following question:
Currently, I do have an ASP.Net Core Application set up with some generic code in the frontend, which sends all POST requests with a JSON payload and with application/json set as content type.
My controllers accept these calls like this for example:
public async Task<JsonResponse> AddToPortfolio([FromBody] AddPortfolioUiModel addPortfolioUiModel)
{
...
}
So, when my frontend code sends a POST for this controller action, it will properly read the parameter UiModel from the JSON.
Good enough.
However, sometimes I do have controller calls which might only require receiving a single string. As of now, I would have to wrap this in a model and tag it as [FromBody]. This is fairly annoying to do, and I was wondering if there is no easier way to just accept it like this instead:
public async Task<JsonResponse> ControllerMethod(string myParam)
{
...
}
Is this easily possible while still keeping the application/json content type attached to all requests coming from my JS client? I don't really want to juggle around with multiple content types, so this would be great.

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 ()

I am writing a REST API in .net core. I am trying to test the API using Postman and I am getting an error saying
Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 ()
I know this error occurs when the route does not match. Not sure, what am I doing wrong with the route. Below is my code with the Route at the top:
namespace RecLoad.Controllers
{
[Route("api/[controller]")]
[ApiController]
public class RecLoadPrimeController : ControllerBase
{
[Route("RecLoadPrime/insertRecLoadData/{RecStartDate}/{RecEndDate}")]
[HttpPost]
public void insertRecLoadData(string RecStartDate, string RecEndDate)
{
RecLoadDataProvider dataProvider = new RecLoadDataProvider();
dataProvider.InsertCardsData(RecStartDate, RecEndDate);
}
}
}
The URL that I am trying to test in Postman is below:
https://localhost:44360/api/RecLoadPrime/insertRecLoadData/?RecStartDate=01/01/2020&RecEndDate=01/02/2020
I am very new to API, this is the first API that I am writing. Below is the image for application structure. Its extremely simple:
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
A 404 error means not found. This means Postman cant find the end point you are trying to hit.
Your [Route] attribute needs to be updated. The root of this endpoint (controller) it's RecLoadPrime. So get rid of that part. If you are just trying to test, update it to [Route("insert")].
Using ? in your URL means you are passing query parameters. Which are usually used on GET requests not on POST requests.
Web API expects you to use Model Binding for passing in parameters. Meaning map the post parameters to a strongly typed .NET object, not to single parameters. Alternatively, you can also accept a FormDataCollection parameter on your API method to get a name value collection of all POSTed values.
For example: Create a small class called Card, with the properties startDate, and endDate. Make them DateTime. Now use that in the method signature public void insertRecLoadData([FromBody]Card card)
In Postman, you are now going to use the Body option and create a JSON representation of this new class we created.
For example: { "startDate": "2020-03-23", "endDate": "2020-03-27" }
In the route, you are going to use: POST | https://localhost:44360/api/insertRecLoadData/insert
Make sure you set breakpoints in your controller. Not sure how you have setup your project but I'd suggest reading up more on how to setup a Web API using ASP.NET Core. Look into RESTful design to also get an idea on how to best setup these end points.
Good luck!
The current route configuration on your controller and on your action will result in duplicated section in your route. Specifically, the route the action will be associated with will be "api/RecLoadPrime/RecLoadPrime/insertRecLoadData/{RecStartDate}/{RecEndDate}".
Consider removing the RecLoadPrim/ prefix from your action route attribute as follows:
[Route("insertRecLoadData/{RecStartDate}/{RecEndDate}")]

Update URL from action filter ASP.NET MVC

Hellp all,
Generally speaking I want to "update" URL from action filter in OnActionExecuting method. I registered action filter to be global and that method will be executed before every action is executed.
In OnActionExecuting method I am processing some things and I want to update URL with accountName after that.
I have configured routes which can accept four segments route patterns - something like these: {accountName}/{controller}/{action}, {controller}/{action}...
Basically if I receive request which doesn't contain {accountName} segment or if is that segment empty I would like to update URL with new accountName and be able to see updated URL when request is ended.
I am trying to do that like in following:
filterContext.RouteData.Values["accountName"] = accountName;
filterContext.Result = new RedirectToRouteResult("AccountRoute", filterContext.RouteData.Values);
I added new route data value to filterContext and after I am trying to redirect to specific route with route data values.
That approach doesn't properly because I am encountered with "TO MANY REQUESTS" and it broke my app.
Any idea how I can update URL and avoid to many requests?
Thanks

Why does ASP.NET Web Api model binding uses the parameter type to determine the source of the value?

Since a few days I'm trying to create my own web api controller. Duo to the rest conventions I need to use a post request to create an object. To get concrete, Im having this controller with this action:
public class ReservationController : ApiController
{
[HttpPost]
public void Create(int roomId, DateTime arrivalDate)
{
//do something with both parameters
}
}
This code is not working when I fire a post request at it, I'm receiving a 404 exception something like this:
No action was found on the controller 'Some' that matches the request.
The reason for it is that simple types are read from the query string, complex types from the body, according to this aricle. The web api uses the parameters to match the action to a request and can't therefore map my action to the request.
I do know that I can use the [frombody] tag, but you can only apply that to one parameter and I have 2. I also know that I can create a wrapper object which have both the parameters, but I'm not willing to use wrappers for all my calls.
So I do know that I can work around this by these methods. I also think that this is caused by the fact that the body of the post request can only be read once. But my actual question is:
Why is the source of a parameter determined by it's type and not by it's availability, especially when the conventions state that you should make for example a post request for creation? In MVC this is the case, why isn't it in the web api?
Best regards,
BHD
FINAL UPDATE
Since I'm getting some upvotes, problably more people are facing the same question. In the end it comes to this: Web-Api != MVC. It's simply not the same thing and the web api team made different design decisions than the mvc team I guess.
It seems that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of how Web API actually works.
Web API routing is driven off of verbiage, not the method names. "SomeMethod" actually translates to zero useful information for Web API. As a result, if I post
api/some/some?id=1
OR
api/some/somemethod?id=1
OR EVEN
api/some/?id=1
and the SomeMethod endpoint is the ONLY available POST, it will hit that endpoint.
As such, first of all, make sure you have only one POST on that api controller. If you do, POSTing to it from any test client using either of the query strings above will work just fine.
You can use the [FromBody] attribute on the parameter to force it to read from the body of the HTTP POST instead of the Uri. This is opposed to the [FromUri] attribute which does the opposite.
[HttpPost]
public void SomeAction([FromBody] int id)
{
//do something with id
}
Are you sure you're actually putting the id in the body? It could also be a routing issue. If this still doesn't work then maybe you should use Fiddler and copy the RAW output of your HTTP message here.
If you're packing multiple values into the body such as with JSON then you should use a model which should automatically be deserialized to:
public class PostModel
{
public int ID { get; set; }
public int SomeOtherID { get; set; }
}
[HttpPost]
public void SomeAction(PostModel postModel)
{
//do something with postModel.ID and postModel.SomeOtherID
}
You can actually do this straight out of the box in WebAPI, at least in 2.2 (.Net version 4.5.2). Your controller is correct. Using your controller, if you call it with a HTTP POST like this (tested through Fiddler):
http://localhost:58397/api/Reservation?roomId=123&arrivalDate=2015-12-17
You'll get the correct values of roomId = 123 and arrivalDate = 17.12.2015.
I suspect there's something wrong in your call to the WebAPI. Maybe post that call if you're still not getting it to work.

MVC Routes - How to get a URL?

In my current project we have a notification system. When an oject is added to another objects collection, an email is sent to those who are subscibed to the parent object. This happens on the object layer and not in the View or Controller.
Here's the problem:
Although we can say who created what with what information in the email, we cannot embed links to those objects in the email because in the object layer there is no access to a UrlHelper. To construct a UrlHelper you need a RequestContext, which again does not exist on the object layer.
Question:
I want to make a helper class to create the url's for me. How can I create an object that will generate these urls without a request context? Is it possible?
The problem is compounded by the fact that you don't want a relative URL in an email, you want an absolute email so you need to hard-code the domain too because there is no request to grab it from.
Another factor is that emails can outlive the current site structure by months or years so you need a kind of permalink, and thus a way to associate multiple Urls with a single action (additional routes). This latter issue is also a factor in SEO where you don't want to leave any page behind.
For now a static method on your controller UrlToActionX(params) sitting next to the method ActionX seems like the simplest workaround. All it does is the appropriate string.Format(...) on the id's of the strongly-typed parameters to generate the permanent Url. Add a static domain on the front, or a domain from the user object (since you know which domain they visit when they come to your site) and you have your email link.
It's not ideal but at least you now have only one place to maintain the Url generation.
IMHO: When it comes to permanent links to a changing web site sometimes it's better to rely on "configuration over convention". :-)
I'm not aware of a way to do this, you MUST have access to the routes at the very least to make your own helper. Unless your business objects know about the registered routes, you can't get away from doing some hard-coding.
Here is how you might limit the hard-coding of urls though...
Code in a url with all the relevant bits in your object's methods..
class Event
{
public void SendEmail()
{
var url = string.Format("http://myurl.com/r/Event?eventId={0}", EventId);
//send emails...
}
}
Note the /r/Event piece of the url. This would be a map to a RController that would be responsible for taking arbitrary, made-up links and sending a 301 Permanent Redirect and going through the route engine to create a real url using the current routes. This way you are only hard-coding a utility controller url and not to the ever evolving controller actions of your real pages.
class RController : Controller
{
public ActionResult Event(int eventId)
{
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.MovedPermanently;
Response.RedirectLocation = Url.Action("Details", "Event", new { eventId = eventId });
return null;
}
public ActionResult Register(int eventId)
{
Response.StatusCode = (int)HttpStatusCode.MovedPermanently;
Response.RedirectLocation = Url.Action("Register", "Event", new { eventId = eventId });
return null;
}
}
It just feels a bit better than hard-coding a bunch of different controllers/actions that you might decide to rename later. Think of it as your own little TinyUrl like service.
You could define an interface with a method that takes whatever information is necessary to create a URL (object ids or whatever) and returns a URL. Write an implementation of that interface that uses the UrlHelper to do this work, and then supply this to your object layer (ideally with an IoC container).
You could use:
VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute(string.Format("~/r/Event?eventId={0}", id))
to resolve the url. Still not nice though.

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