ASP.NET WebApi vs MVC ? [closed]

Answer 1

Asp.Net MVC is used to create web applications that returns both views and data but Asp.Net Web API is used to create full blown HTTP services with easy and simple way that returns only data not view.

Web API helps to build REST-ful services over the .NET Framework and it also support content-negotiation(it's about deciding the best response format data that could be acceptable by the client. it could be JSON,XML, self hosting which are not in MVC.

Web API also takes care of returning data in particular format like JSON,XML or any other based upon the Accept header in the request and you don't worry about that. MVC only return data in JSON format using JsonResult.

Answer 2

Similarities

1) both inherits from ihhtphandler for the asyncrequest so basically apicontroller or mvc controller both are the wrapper around the web.http

Differences: 1) mvc controller is very heavy if you could go through its definition you can see how many interfaces and the base code it has used, web api is lighter controller and distinguish request by its passed parameters ( yes we can change it too!)

2) MVC controller has too many features like it return views, action result , javascript result etc but in web api has either JSON or XML

3) API is for implementing Restful(get, post,put, delete, options) services which can independently can hosted any where without the depending upon views, MVC controller cant support that as it tightly integrated with the views.

Answer 3

ASP.NET MVC And ASP.NET Web api both of them are using for different purpose

ASP.NET

ASP.NET offers three frameworks for creating web applications: Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, and ASP.NET Web Pages. All three frameworks are stable and mature, and you can create great web applications with any of them. No matter what framework you choose, you will get all the benefits and features of ASP.NET everywhere.

Each framework targets a different development style. The one you choose depends on a combination of your programming assets (knowledge, skills, and development experience), the type of application you’re creating, and the development approach you’re comfortable with. All three frameworks will be supported, updated, and improved in future releases of ASP.NET.

MVC

ASP.NET MVC gives you a powerful, patterns-based way to build dynamic websites that enables a clean separation of concerns and that gives you full control over markup for enjoyable, agile development. ASP.NET MVC includes many features that enable fast, TDD-friendly development for creating sophisticated applications that use the latest web standards.

Web API

ASP.NET Web API is a framework that makes it easy to build HTTP services that reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. ASP.NET Web API is an ideal platform for building RESTful applications on the .NET Framework.

you can read more form here http://www.dotnet-tricks.com/Tutorial/webapi/Y95G050413-Difference-between-ASP.NET-MVC-and-ASP.NET-Web-API.html

Answer 4

This image seems to show the differences and similarities in the way the matter. I hope that helps is interesting for me.

Answer 5

ASP.NET MVC is focused on making output of HTML easy. ASP.NET Web API is focused on making output of raw data easy.

In the WebForms world, ASP.NET MVC would be equivalent to .aspx pages and ASP.NET Web API would be .asmx

Answer 6

Usually, WebAPI used for data services where MVC can generate more types of outputs.

WebAPI for sure simplifies the way we can create data services. It's clean and easy for this purpose. MVC come with some more tools around.

MVC can generate any output WebAPI can output. Generating outputs from templates can be easily achieved in MVC. I can't find a reason to do so in WebAPI. PHP developers and old ASP programmer might know this attitude from the past, where you can build HTML files involved with C# code inside.

WebAPI- DATA MVC - DATA, UI/HTML, XHTML, Files, Templates etc..