Web Application vs Web Api project types in Asp.net Core

Question

I know that Asp.Net MVC and Asp.Net Web API were merged into one code in Asp.net Core and they inherit from Controller base class and can all return implementations of IActionResult. it be a View for MVC or Json for web api.

But when i want to create a Asp.net Core project, it offers two templates (Web Application and Web Api ), according to what i said in above, there is no differences between these controllers, why there is two templates? is there any differences that i don't know about it?

Answer 1

The web application template will create folders and import stuff needed for a web application such as jquery, css etc. Web api template will create folders and import stuff for a web api. Also the controllers created by default will have different implementations, for example, web application will be returning views and the views will be created in the appropriate folder.

So although they derive from the same controllers, each type of project requires different dependencies.

If I were you I would go ahead and create one for each type and see the difference.

If you want to have both web api and web application in the same project, use areas. This way your web and api will have separate controllers, folders and models. Also if you want to separate them in the future, it will be easy to do so.

Answer 2

The difference between 2 templates is-

The WebAPI template starts with a Controller class that will allow you to respond to RESTful requests at the /api/Values endpoint.

The Web Application template will give you an MVC framework enabled project with some Razor views, the bootstrap CSS framework and jQuery library installed.

If you want to create project with both MVC and API controllers then I would suggest to go with ASP.NET Core Web Application template and add require dependencies.