Introduction
If you would like to discover the possibilities offered by HTTP on the .NET Framework, ASP.NET Web API is the technology for you. This book will get you up to speed on how it works and how to use it at both high and low levels.
We have structured this book to make it really easy to use. If you would like to get your hands dirty quickly, we recommend that you work through Chapters 1 to 7 in order, because Chapters 5, 6, and 7 are all about building a sample multitier application using ASP.NET Web API. This sample application is intended as a guide on how to structure an ASP.NET Web API application in a hosting-agnostic way (from both API and client perspectives). We recommend you download the source code and run the application locally to begin with. You can download the source code from www.apress.com/9781430247258 along with all the other code related to this book. Alternatively, you can get it from GitHub (https://github.com/tugberkugurlu/PingYourPackage) through a Git client (make sure to check out the “Edition-1” branch). No matter which method you choose, be sure to read the “Run the Application” section inside the README.md file (https://github.com/tugberkugurlu/PingYourPackage/blob/Edition-1/README.md) to get the sample application running smoothly.
If you prefer to get into the core of the ASP.NET Web API framework, you can choose to skip the sample application chapters and go straight to the feature-specific chapters on routing, controllers, message handlers, filters, and so on. These chapters really dive into the details of the specific parts of the ASP.NET Web API request pipeline and will give you a deep understanding of how the framework is processing your request.
Required Software
To use this book, you will need:
- .NET Framework 4.5 or higher
- Visual Studio 2012 or later
- Visual Studio Extension: NuGet Package Manager
- Visual Studio Extension: xUnit.net runner for Visual Studio
- SQL Server Express (for sample applications and some other samples)
Any other software we make use of in the book is available through NuGet.