How to debug/unit test webAPi in one solution

Question

Is there a way to unit test or debug a web api in one vs solution? I am consuming the WebAPI using HttpClient and have two instances of VS up to do this.

in 1 VS instan

Answer 1

You can self host the web api as mike mentioned,

var config = new HttpSelfHostConfiguration("http://localhost:8080");

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    "API Default", "api/{controller}/{id}", 
    new { id = RouteParameter.Optional });

using (HttpSelfHostServer server = new HttpSelfHostServer(config))
{
    server.OpenAsync().Wait();
    Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to quit.");
    Console.ReadLine();
}

for more details, http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/older-versions/self-host-a-web-api

you could start the hosting when you initialize your unit test suite, and shutdown when you cleanup the test suite.