How to call a WebApi controller method?

Question

I've just created asp.net mvc 4 app and added default webapi controller

public class UserApiController : ApiController
{
    // GET api/default1
    public IEnumerable<string> Get()
    {
        return new string[] { "value1", "value2" };
    }

    // GET api/default1/5
    public string Get(int id)
    {
        return "value";
    }

    // POST api/default1
    public void Post(string value)
    {
    }

    // PUT api/default1/5
    public void Put(int id, string value)
    {
    }

    // DELETE api/default1/5
    public void Delete(int id)
    {
    }
}

Then i was trying to call method get() by typing http://localhost:51416/api/get in the browser but getting error:

<Error>
<Message>
No HTTP resource was found that matches the request URI 'http://localhost:51416/api/get'.
</Message>
<MessageDetail>
No type was found that matches the controller named 'get'.
</MessageDetail>
</Error>

my route config:

public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
        {
            routes.IgnoreRoute("{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}");

            routes.MapHttpRoute(
                name: "DefaultApi",
                routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
                //defaults: new { controller = "UserApiController", id = RouteParameter.Optional }
                defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
            );

            routes.MapRoute(
                name: "Default",
                url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
                defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
            );
        }

Why it is not working by default? What can i do in order to fix that?

Answer 1

You don't need to put get in the URL because GET is type of the HTTP verb.

And by default the browsers sends GET request if you type in an URL.

So try it with http://localhost:51416/api/

Because UserApiController is the default api controller if you uncomment the line defaults: new { controller = "UserApiController"... in your routing config

Note that you don't need the "controller" suffix when specifying your routes so the correct dafaults settings is :defaults: new { controller = "UserApi", id = RouteParameter.Optional } )

or you need to explicitly specifying the controller http://localhost:51416/api/userapi

You can start learning about Wep.API and a HTTP verb based routing conventions on the ASP.NET Web API site.