Question

This is my first attempt at using the asp.net web api.

I’ve tried running it in debug mode but I’m not sure what to browse to. Can I just drop a url in my browser or do I have to create a special http get request with fancy headers or something? I just want to see that my web api controller is returning a list of stuff when I browse to it.

Any help/guidance is appreciated.

Note: I’m not using MVC, it’s just an empty web application with a web api controller class added to it.

Answer 1

I needed to add the following usings to my global.asax file

using System.Web.Routing;
using System.Web.Http;

and then add:

protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    RouteTable.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
        name: "API Default",
        routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
        defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
    );
}

Thanks marco709394 for pointing me in the right direction and Habib for making the sensible suggestion to just create a new web api project – but unfortunately I’m required to add web api to an existing asp.net 4.0 web application.