How to Consume ASP.Net WEB API From ASP.Net MVC4 Using RestSharp

The following will provide us output of type ServerDataModel:

var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);

The following is our complete ServerDataRestClient helper class:

public class ServerDataRestClient : IServerDataRestClient  
{  
    private readonly RestClient _client;  
    private readonly string _url = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["webapibaseurl"];  

    public ServerDataRestClient()  
    {  
        _client = new RestClient {BaseUrl = _url};  
    }  

    public IEnumerable<serverdatamodel> GetAll()  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata", Method.GET) {RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json};  

        var response = _client.Execute<list<serverdatamodel>>(request);  

        if (response.Data == null)  
            throw new Exception(response.ErrorMessage);  

        return response.Data;  
    }  

    public ServerDataModel GetById(int id)  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata/{id}", Method.GET) {RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json};  

        request.AddParameter("id", id, ParameterType.UrlSegment);  

        var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);  

        if (response.Data == null)  
            throw new Exception(response.ErrorMessage);  

        return response.Data;  
    }  

    public ServerDataModel GetByType(int type)  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata/type/{datatype}", Method.GET)  
        {  
            RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json  
        };  

        request.AddParameter("datatype", type, ParameterType.UrlSegment);  

        var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);  

        return response.Data;  
    }  

    public ServerDataModel GetByIP(int ip)  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata/ip/{ip}", Method.GET) {RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json};  
        request.AddParameter("ip", ip, ParameterType.UrlSegment);  

        var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);  

        return response.Data;  
    }  

    public void Add(ServerDataModel serverData)  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata", Method.POST) {RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json};  
        request.AddBody(serverData);  

        var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);  

        if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.Created)  
            throw new Exception(response.ErrorMessage);  
    }  

    public void Update(ServerDataModel serverData)  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata/{id}", Method.PUT) {RequestFormat = DataFormat.Json};  
        request.AddParameter("id", serverData.Id, ParameterType.UrlSegment);  
        request.AddBody(serverData);  

        var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);  

        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.NotFound)  
            throw new Exception(response.ErrorMessage);  
    }  

    public void Delete(int id)  
    {  
        var request = new RestRequest("api/serverdata/{id}", Method.DELETE);  
        request.AddParameter("id", id, ParameterType.UrlSegment);  

        var response = _client.Execute<serverdatamodel>(request);  

        if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.NotFound)  
            throw new Exception(response.ErrorMessage);  
    }  
}

Create Model Class

Under Solution Explorer, right-click on the Models folder and Add -> New Item (or hit Ctrl + Shift + A). Choose the class and name it ServerDataModel and click "Add". It will add an empty Model class.

Here is our complete model class:

public class ServerDataModel  
{  
    public int Id { get; set; }  
    [Required]  
    [Display(Name = "Initial date")]  
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]  
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]  
    public DateTime InitialDate { get; set; }  
    [Required]  
    [Display(Name = "End date")]  
    [DataType(DataType.Date)]  
    [DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]  
    public DateTime EndDate { get; set; }  

    [Required]  
    [Display(Name = "Order number")]  
    public int OrderNumber { get; set; }  
    [Required]  
    [Display(Name = "Is dirty")]  
    public bool IsDirty { get; set; }  
    [Required, StringLength(15)]  
    [Display(Name = "Data Server IP")]  
    [RegularExpression(@"^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.)  
    {3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$",  
    ErrorMessage = "Data Server IP should be in the form of 255.255.255")]  
    public string IP { get; set; }  

    [Required]  
    [Display(Name = "Record data type")]  
    [RegularExpression(@"^([1-2])$",   
    ErrorMessage = "Record Data Type should be 1 or 2")]  
    public int Type { get; set; }  

    [Display(Name = "Record identifier")]  
    [RegularExpression(@"^([0-9])$",   
    ErrorMessage = "Record identifier should be between 0 to 9")]  
    public int RecordIdentifier { get; set; }  
}

Describing Model Class

Here are some points we should notice in our model class:

1. Initial Date and End Date should be of Date type and formatted as MM/dd/yyyy:

[DataType(DataType.Date)]  
[DisplayFormat(DataFormatString = "{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", ApplyFormatInEditMode = true)]  
public DateTime InitialDate { get; set; } 

2. Here, we are using Data annotations.

3. We set ApplyFormatInEditMode = true so that while in mode, the user shouldn't forget to supply the required format.

4. Our date fields should contain a Calendar control on the browsers that obeys HTML5 rules.

5. IP should be formatted in the actual IP format (to avoid entering unwanted strings).

[Display(Name = "Data Server IP")]  
[RegularExpression(@"^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.)  
{3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$",  
ErrorMessage = "Data Server IP should be in the form of 255.255.255")]  
public string IP { get; set; } 

6. Here, we used RegularExpression, the app will throw an error if it doesn't match.

7. The record data type should be 1 or 2.​​​​​​​

[Required]  
[Display(Name = "Record data type")]  
[RegularExpression(@"^([1-2])$", ErrorMessage = "Record Data Type should be 1 or 2")]  
public int Type { get; set; } 

8. If the expression does not match, it will throw an error message.

9. Record identifier should be in the range 0-9.

10. If the expression does not match, it will throw an error message as in the following:

Why All Checks Are On the Client Side?

In this article, we are implementing the ASP.NET WEB API in our client project that is in ASP.NET MVC4. Here we want to ensure that each and every request should be verified and error-free. There are many debates on this approach, whether to implement it client-side or at services-side. In my view, services is the centralized process and it would be calling from multiple clients, so, it's the responsibility of each and every client of an incoming request to be verified and error-free (here incoming request does not contain any security logic, here I meant to say only about normal validation data checks).

Create Controller

1. Under Solution Explorer, right-click on the Controllers folder and click Controller.

2. From the Add controller dialog, enter the Controller name ServerDataController and select MVC controller with empty read/write actions from the Template dropdown, click on "Add".

Describing Controller

Our ServerDataController will consume an ASP.NET WEB API using RestSharp (we'll use our helper class, created above).

static readonly IServerDataRestClient RestClient = new ServerDataRestClient();  
  
Above, we simply initialized our ServerDataRestClient  
private IServerDataRestClient _restClient;  
  
public ServerDataController(IServerDataRestClient  restClient)  
{  
   _restClient = restClient;  
}

The preceding is another flavor where we need to use Inversion Of Control (IOC).

public ActionResult Index()  
{  
   return View(RestClient.GetAll());  
}

In the preceding, our Index ActionResult method will get all ServerData records from services and render our view. We need to add views at this point.

Create View

At this point, we need a UI to show output or provide an interface to our user to interact with the application. So, we need to add a view.

The direct/rough way to add a view is, from Solution Explorer, add a new folder ServerData and right-click on it, then click on Add View.

From the Add View dialog, name your view like Index. Select Razor as the ViewEngine, create a strongly typed view and select ServerDataModel as a Model class. I use a Scaffold Template of List (you can ignore that if do not want to use it), use your master layout and click on "Add".

It will add a new view to the project.​​​​​​​

@model IEnumerable<consumewebapi.models.serverdatamodel>  
  
@{ ViewBag.Title = "Manipulate Server Data";  
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";  
}</consumewebapi.models.serverdatamodel> 

We did a little bit of manipulation to get the output:

@string.Format(item.IsDirty ? "Yes" : "No") 

It will give us Yes or No showing whether or not our Record is dirty.

The following same procedure is to add other views, here is the structure:

Executing the Project

Finally, we are done with all of our customizations and changes. It's now time to run our project. Just click run or hit F5. Our Index page will be rendered as:

Closing Notes

• Ah! ASP.NET MVC4 does not provide direct implementation to use RestSharp. There is a good way to add RestSharp supports to our project and then we can use this awesome framework.
• I have created a demo app here, you can use this and adapt the code in part or as a whole. I will be glad to hear from you if you find any issues or other things you need to handle.