Calling Web API from MVC controller

Question

I have a WebAPI Controller within my MVC5 project solution. The WebAPI has a method which returns all files in a specific folder as a Json list:

[{\"name\":\"file

Answer 1

Its very late here but thought to share below code. If we have our WebApi as a different project altogether in the same solution then we can call the same from MVC controller like below

public class ProductsController : Controller
    {
        // GET: Products
        public async Task<ActionResult> Index()
        {
            string apiUrl = "http://localhost:58764/api/values";

            using (HttpClient client=new HttpClient())
            {
                client.BaseAddress = new Uri(apiUrl);
                client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Clear();
                client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new System.Net.Http.Headers.MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));

                HttpResponseMessage response = await client.GetAsync(apiUrl);
                if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                {
                    var data = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
                    var table = Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<System.Data.DataTable>(data);

                }


            }
            return View();

        }
    }

Answer 2

From my HomeController I want to call this Method and convert Json response to List

No you don't. You really don't want to add the overhead of an HTTP call and (de)serialization when the code is within reach. It's even in the same assembly!

Your ApiController goes against (my preferred) convention anyway. Let it return a concrete type:

public IEnumerable<QDocumentRecord> GetAllRecords()
{
    listOfFiles = ...
    return listOfFiles;
}

If you don't want that and you're absolutely sure you need to return HttpResponseMessage, then still there's absolutely no need to bother with calling JsonConvert.SerializeObject() yourself:

return Request.CreateResponse<List<QDocumentRecord>>(HttpStatusCode.OK, listOfFiles);

Then again, you don't want business logic in a controller, so you extract that into a class that does the work for you:

public class FileListGetter
{
    public IEnumerable<QDocumentRecord> GetAllRecords()
    {
        listOfFiles = ...
        return listOfFiles;
    }
}

Either way, then you can call this class or the ApiController directly from your MVC controller:

public class HomeController : Controller
{
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var listOfFiles = new DocumentsController().GetAllRecords();
        // OR
        var listOfFiles = new FileListGetter().GetAllRecords();

        return View(listOfFiles);
    }
}

But if you really, really must do an HTTP request, you can use HttpWebRequest, WebClient, HttpClient or RestSharp, for all of which plenty of tutorials exist.

Answer 3

Why don't you simply move the code you have in the ApiController calls - DocumentsController to a class that you can call from both your HomeController and DocumentController. Pull this out into a class you call from both controllers. This stuff in your question:

// All code to find the files are here and is working perfectly...

It doesn't make sense to call a API Controller from another controller on the same website.

This will also simplify the code when you come back to it in the future you will have one common class for finding the files and doing that logic there...

Answer 4

well, you can do it a lot of ways... one of them is to create a HttpRequest. I would advise you against calling your own webapi from your own MVC (the idea is redundant...) but, here's a end to end tutorial.

Answer 5

Controller:

    public JsonResult GetProductsData()
    {
        using (var client = new HttpClient())
        {
            client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:5136/api/");
            //HTTP GET
            var responseTask = client.GetAsync("product");
            responseTask.Wait();

            var result = responseTask.Result;
            if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
            {
                var readTask = result.Content.ReadAsAsync<IList<product>>();
                readTask.Wait();

                var alldata = readTask.Result;

                var rsproduct = from x in alldata
                             select new[]
                             {
                             Convert.ToString(x.pid),
                             Convert.ToString(x.pname),
                             Convert.ToString(x.pprice),
                      };

                return Json(new
                {
                    aaData = rsproduct
                },
    JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);


            }
            else //web api sent error response 
            {
                //log response status here..

               var pro = Enumerable.Empty<product>();


                return Json(new
                {
                    aaData = pro
                },
    JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);


            }
        }
    }

    public JsonResult InupProduct(string id,string pname, string pprice)
    {
        try
        {

            product obj = new product
            {
                pid = Convert.ToInt32(id),
                pname = pname,
                pprice = Convert.ToDecimal(pprice)
            };



            using (var client = new HttpClient())
            {
                client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:5136/api/product");


                if(id=="0")
                {
                    //insert........
                    //HTTP POST
                    var postTask = client.PostAsJsonAsync<product>("product", obj);
                    postTask.Wait();

                    var result = postTask.Result;

                    if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                    {
                        return Json(1, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        return Json(0, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    //update........
                    //HTTP POST
                    var postTask = client.PutAsJsonAsync<product>("product", obj);
                    postTask.Wait();
                    var result = postTask.Result;
                    if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                    {
                        return Json(1, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        return Json(0, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                    }

                }




            }


            /*context.InUPProduct(Convert.ToInt32(id),pname,Convert.ToDecimal(pprice));

            return Json(1, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);*/
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            return Json(0, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
        }

    }

    public JsonResult deleteRecord(int ID)
    {
        try
        {
            using (var client = new HttpClient())
            {
                client.BaseAddress = new Uri("http://localhost:5136/api/product");

                //HTTP DELETE
                var deleteTask = client.DeleteAsync("product/" + ID);
                deleteTask.Wait();

                var result = deleteTask.Result;
                if (result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
                {

                    return Json(1, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                }
                else
                {
                    return Json(0, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
                }
            }



           /* var data = context.products.Where(x => x.pid == ID).FirstOrDefault();
            context.products.Remove(data);
            context.SaveChanges();
            return Json(1, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);*/
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            return Json(0, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
        }
    }