I get 404 error - asp.net web api

Question

My task is to create services (using asp.net api) and use it for android aplication.

I have never done anything like this so I have a problems at begining. :(

First I created Class Library with few classes. Second I created asp.net web application and refered class library into it.

My first problem is that I dont know how to access to methode from controller. So, I tried to just start without it, to see does it even work... When I runned it I added controller to the path but I get error.

I runner it like this: http://localhost:51041/ValuesController1

Error is this:

Server Error in '/' Application.

The resource cannot be found.

Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could >have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please review the >following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested URL: /ValuesController1

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.18408

Ok, now my code:

Controller class:

    public class ValuesController1 : ApiController
{
    // GET api/<controller>
    public IEnumerable<string> Get()
    {
        return new string[] { "value1", "value2" };
    }

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

    // POST api/<controller>
    public void Post([FromBody]string value)
    {
    }

    // PUT api/<controller>/5
    public void Put(int id, [FromBody]string value)
    {
    }

    // DELETE api/<controller>/5
    public void Delete(int id)
    {
    }

    public List<BuzzMonitor.Web.Message> Search()
    {
        //return new BuzzMonitor.Web.MessageHandler.Search(...);
    }
}

MessageHandler class:

public class MessageHandler
{
    private List<Message> _dummyMessages = new List<Message>()
        {
            new Message(){
                MessageId = 1,
                CreatedDate = new DateTime(2014, 5, 27),
                Text = "Srpska vodoprivreda...",
                Autor = "Marko Markovic",
                Source = "Twitter"

            },
            new Message(){
                MessageId = 2,
                CreatedDate = new DateTime(2014, 5, 27),
                Text = "Aerodrom Beograd...",
                Autor = "Zoran Zoric",
                Source = "B92"

            }
        };

    public List<Message> GetLatestMessages(int nrMessagesToReturn)
    {
        List<Message> retVal;

        retVal = this._dummyMessages.GetRange(0, nrMessagesToReturn);

        return retVal;
    }

    public List<Message> Search(string text, DateTime dateFrom, DateTime dateTo, List<int> themeIds, List<int> sourceIds, int pageIndex, int pageSize)
    {
        List<Message> retVal;

        retVal = this.Search(text, dateFrom, dateTo, themeIds, sourceIds);

        if (retVal != null && retVal.Count > 0)
        {
            retVal = retVal.GetRange(pageIndex * pageSize, pageSize);
        }

        return retVal;
    }

    public List<Message> Search(string text, DateTime dateFrom, DateTime dateTo, List<int> themeIds, List<int> sourceIds)
    {
        List<Message> retVal = null;

        retVal = this._dummyMessages.Where(m => m.Text.IndexOf(text, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) > -1 &&
            m.CreatedDate >= dateFrom &&
            m.CreatedDate < dateTo &&
            (themeIds == null || themeIds.Count == 0 || (themeIds.Contains(m.ThemeId))) &&
            (sourceIds == null || sourceIds.Count == 0 || (sourceIds.Contains(m.SourceId)))).ToList<Message>();

        return retVal;
    }


}

Message class:

    public class Message
{
    public int MessageId { get; set; }

    public DateTime CreatedDate { get; set; }

    public string Text { get; set; }

    public string Autor { get; set; }

    public string Source { get; set; }

    public int ThemeId { get; set; }

    public int SourceId { get; set; }
}

So, problems are: 1. I dont know how to call Search in controler from MessageHandler. 2. I get error message and I dont know is it because I dont have everythig I need in controller or I need to set some configurations...

I am using VS 2010.

Thank you for helping and sorry if my questions seems stupid...

Answer 1

Rename your controller class to XXXController. For example, in this case call it ValuesController. The default routing in WebAPI is set up with this code:

routes.MapRoute(
    "Default",                          //The name of this route.
    "api/{controller}/{action}/{id}",   //The url, note the prefix "api" is hard-coded.
    new {                               //The default values:
        controller = "Home",            //{controller} in URL defaults to Home (i.e. HomeController)
        action = "Index",               //{action} in URL defaults to Index method
        id = UrlParameter.Optional });  //The id part is optional

An example URL based on the above route is /api/Home/action/id. Note that the Controller suffix of the class is not used. So to map this to your renamed ValuesController it becomes:

http://localhost:51041/api/Values/Get