10 Wonders That Will Make You Love ASP.NET

ASP.NET 4.0 has been around in the web arena for quite a while. It is making headlines for its enticing features and highly interactive interface. Though .NET MVC 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 have got all the press attention they are worthy of, there are still some features that are left out and less talked about. It wouldn't be a surprise if some of us didn't know anything at all about these features. One such feature is that of ASP.NET Web API.

MVC 4.0 includes.Net Web API, a framework that facilitates the development of HTTP pages, which can cater to both mobile devices as well as web browsers. If you thought you know it all about Web API, think again! Here are 10 bewitching features of ASP.NET Web API, most of which you would have never known before.

1. Content Negotiation: The data format returned by web API can now be determined by the client and server collectively. ASP.NET 4.0 extends full support for formats like JSON, XML and Form URL-encoded. You have the option of extending this support and introduce your own formats. Moreover, you get the freedom of replacing the entire content negotiation strategy itself.

2. Modern HTTP Programming Model: A newly introduced strong HTTP object model is another exciting feature of the Web API. This model allows direct access and manipulation of HTTP responses and requests within your API. The same programming model, along with the HTTP Pipeline, is available to the client as well through the new HttpClient type.

3. Filters: ASP.NET API extends support for all major filters including [Authorize] attribute. You also have the option of authoring your own filters and plugging them to the API for handling authorization, actions and exception.

4. Model Binding and Validation: With model binders you can easily extract data from various portions of HTTP requests. Furthermore, you can convert this data into.Net objects to be used by Web APIs, without much hassle. The option of validating action parameters on the basis of data annotations is also available.

5. Query Composition: You can now enable support for your Web API query via OData query conventions. Thanks to the newly introduced [Queryable] filter attribute that returns Iqueryable, when used on an action.

6. Full Support for Routes: All the route capabilities of the ASP.NET Routing, such as constraints and route parameters, are supported by the.NET Web API. You also get an alternate of using simple conventions for mapping actions to HTTP methods.

7. Link Generation: Link generation is made easy. You can use UrlHelper to generate URLs related to resources belonging to the same application.

8. Self Hosting: If you don't wish to use IIS to host Web APIs, the option of self-hosting is also available. You can host APIs using your own process while still utilizing the full power of routes and other features of Web APIs.

9. Code-Based Configuration: Code-Based configuration is another feature of ASP.NET Web APIs that allows you to develop clean config files. In order to configure extensibility points, you can use provide service locator pattern.

10. Scaffolding: Now, you can quickly scaffold a API based on Entity Framework model type. Thanks to the Add Controller dialog.

ASP. NET MVC development is an essential vertical of the web development arena and with the introduction of MVC 4.0 the progression of this vertical has increased four-fold.

Using.NET MVC 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 in any ASP.NET programming venture can take the productivity levels a notch higher. So, try it out today!

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