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Difference between ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web API

While developing your web application using MVC, many developers got confused when to use Web API, since MVC framework can also return JSON data by using JsonResult and can also handle simple AJAX requests. In previous article, I have explained the Difference between WCF and Web API and WCF REST and Web Service and when to use Web API over others services. In this article, you will learn when to use Web API with MVC.

Asp.Net Web API VS Asp.Net MVC

  1. Asp.Net MVC is used to create web applications that returns both views and data but Asp.Net Web API is used to create full blown HTTP services with easy and simple way that returns only data not view.
  2. Web API helps to build REST-ful services over the .NET Framework and it also support content-negotiation(it's about deciding the best response format data that could be acceptable by the client. it could be JSON,XML,ATOM or other formatted data), self hosting which are not in MVC.
  3. Web API also takes care of returning data in particular format like JSON,XML or any other based upon the Accept header in the request and you don't worry about that. MVC only return data in JSON format using JsonResult.
  4. In Web API the request are mapped to the actions based on HTTP verbs but in MVC it is mapped to actions name.
  5. Asp.Net Web API is new framework and part of the core ASP.NET framework. The model binding, filters, routing and others MVC features exist in Web API are different from MVC and exists in the new System.Web.Http assembly. In MVC, these featues exist with in System.Web.Mvc. Hence Web API can also be used with Asp.Net and as a stand alone service layer.
  6. You can mix Web API and MVC controller in a single project to handle advanced AJAX requests which may return data in JSON, XML or any others format and building a full blown HTTP service. Typically, this will be called Web API self hosting.
  7. When you have mixed MVC and Web API controller and you want to implement the authorization then you have to create two filters one for MVC and another for Web API since boths are different.
  8. Moreover, Web API is light weight architecture and except the web application it can also be used with smart phone apps.

     Choosing which technology to use
    The following table describes the major features of each technology.

     

    WCF ASP.NET Web API
    Enables building services that support multiple transport protocols (HTTP, TCP, UDP, and custom transports) and allows switching between them.
    		HTTP only. First-class programming model for HTTP. More suitable for access from various browsers, mobile devices etc enabling wide reach.
    Enables building services that support multiple encodings (Text, MTOM, and Binary) of the same message type and allows switching between them.
    		 Enables building Web APIs that support wide variety of media types including XML, JSON etc.
    Supports building services with WS-* standards like Reliable Messaging, Transactions, Message Security.
    		Uses basic protocol and formats such as HTTP, WebSockets, SSL, JQuery, JSON, and XML. There is no support for higher level protocols such as Reliable Messaging or Transactions.
    Supports Request-Reply, One Way, and Duplex message exchange patterns.
    		 HTTP is request/response but additional patterns can be supported through SignalRand WebSockets integration.
    WCF SOAP services can be described in WSDL allowing automated tools to generate client proxies even for services with complex schemas.
    		There is a variety of ways to describe a Web API ranging from auto-generated HTML help page describing snippets to structured metadata for OData integrated APIs.
    Ships with the .NET framework.
    		 Ships with .NET framework but is open-source and is also available out-of-band as independent download.

    Use WCF to create reliable, secure web services that accessible over a variety of transports. Use ASP.NET Web API to create HTTP-based services that are accessible from a wide variety of clients. Use ASP.NET Web API if you are creating and designing new REST-style services. Although WCF provides some support for writing REST-style services, the support for REST in ASP.NET Web API is more complete and all future REST feature improvements will be made in ASP.NET Web API. If you have an existing WCF service and you want to expose additional REST endpoints, use WCF and the WebHttpBinding.
What do you think?

I hope you have got when to use Web API over MVC and how it works. I would like to have feedback from my blog readers. Your valuable feedback, question, or comments about this article are always welcome.
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