Introduction

Windows services are a good way for reducing some manual jobs that we have to do in our system. In this article, we are going to write a windows service using Asp.Net core, the jobs of this windows service is given below.

1. Zip the folder and save the file to a particular directory
2. Upload the zipped folder to the Azure blob storage

The above mentioned tasks will be running daily, weekly, monthly. We are using Quartz scheduler with Dependency Injection to do this amazing tasks. We are using Nlog for logging the details of our tasks. If you think this is something that you are interested at, then you are at the right place, let us develop our PerfectScheduler.

Source Code

The source code of this project is been uploaded to the GitHub, please feel free to fork, star, create pull requests etc. The repository can be found here.

Creating Perfect Scheduler

As I mentioned earlier, we are creating a windows service with Asp.Net core, technically there is no straight way to do this, as the Windows Service with Asp.Net core template is not available in Visual Studio.

so we will be creating an Asp.Net console application and then install executable file generated as a windows service.

Creating an Asp.Net Console Application

Open Visual Studio and search for the project template Console App(.Net Core) and name the solution as per your convenience, I am naming this project as Perfect Scheduler, as I am thinking that we, the community people can make this windows service perfect by creating many pull requests.

Once you had created the application, let us install all of our dependencies at once, so that we don’t need to worry about them later.

Write the Service

As we have installed all of our dependencies, let us create our service now. Add a new class with the name BackupService and inherit the same from IHostedService, which is part of Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting namespace.

The IHostedService has two methods in it as follows, so we should implement them in our service class.

StartAsync

The StartAsync method can be implemented as preceding.

As you can see that in the first line of the above code, we are getting the scheduler of Quartz. Let us create a method and return a scheduler then.

The next step is to build a service provider so that we can inject our dependencies using Constructor Dependency Injection. By default the Quartz is not doing this, so we have to build the configuration our own.

As you can see that we have configured the services for DailyJob, WeeklyJob, MonthlyJob and HelperService. No worries, we will be creating these Classes and Interfaces very soon.

Once we get the Service Provider, we can pass this to our Custom Job Factory, which we will be implementing soon. Now, we can start the scheduler and schedule our jobs, please make sure that you are using different Identity names for both Triggers and Jobs. The samples are given below.

StopAsync

The StopAsync method can be implemented as follows

Creating the JobBuilders and TriggerBuilders

Now we can create the Interfaces and Classes for our Jobs, which are Daily, Weekly, Monthly. To do so, let us create a new folder called Helpers and then create a folder called Interfaces inside. Below are the Interfaces you need to create then.

IDailyJob

IWeeklyJob

IMonthlyJob

Let us also create an Interface for our HelperService.

IHelperService

The parameter schedule is for determining which job it is, the value of this parameter can be daily, weekly, monthly.

Create a Custom Job Factory

To implement the Dependency Injection, we need to create our own custom job factory. Create a class inside the Helper folder as preceding.

Implement the Job Builder Interfaces

Now it is time to implement our Daily, Weekly, Monthly job builders.

DailyJob

WeeklyJob

MonthlyJob

As you can see that we have configured separate classes for our each jobs with the dependency IHelperService injected via constructor. In the future we should be able to write custom logic for each jobs here as it is in separate classes.

Implement HelperService

Before we start implementing this service let us configure the NLog now as we will be writing logs from this class.

Configure NLog

To configure, NLog, create a new configuration file NLog.config and edit the content as preceding.

Now, create a method SetUpNLog() and add the codes as below.

Please make sure that you have already added a property ILogger _logger.

We can implement the HelperService as preceding with all the necessary private and public methods.

The method PerformService(string schedule) will be called for every schedule and it will make sure that the below tasks are performed.

1. Zip the folder and save the file to a particular directory
2. Upload the zipped file to the Azure blob storage

Here, the values of the the variable and the blob storage container names are same, that is, daily, weekly, monthly. If you are not sure how you can upload a blob to Azure storage account, I strongly recommend you to read my article here.

Remember to set the values for the FolderToZipLocation(To which location the file should be saved), FolderFromZipLocation (From where the files should be taken), StorageConnectionString in the App.config file.

Setting Up The Program

As you all know that Program class it the start of our console application, not it is time to call our BackupService from the Program class. Let us edit the code of the Program class as below.

If we are running the application locally/debug, we are calling the extension method RunConsoleAsync() or else we call our own custom extension method RunTheServiceAsync(). The line services.AddHostedService() is very important as this is where we register our IHostedService, which is BackupService. Below is the code for our extension method.

The ServiceLifetime class is where we override the methods from ServiceBase class. You can find the implementation as follows.

Creating the Windows Service

As we have already created the Asp.Net Core console application, now it is time to create a windows service from it. Make sure that you had set the RuntimeIdentifier to win7-x64 and SelfContained to true in the properties of your project, this will make sure that all of your dependencies are being added to your executable file, so that you don’t need to worry about handling your dependencies manually. You can read more about it here. To do so, right click on the project and click on Edit Project File. At the end, your csproj file should be similar as preceding.

Create the Release Configuration

You should also run the dotnet publish command with the release configuration before you try to install the service, because you need this executable file to install the service.

Open the command prompt with administrator privilege and go to the project root folder using the cd command. Run the command “dotnet publish –configuration=release” .

This will generate everything you wanted. If you run the command correctly, you should see an output as preceding.

Now go to the bin folder and then release folder, you should see a folder with the name netcoreapp2.1, inside this folder, there will be a folder win7-x64, this is the folder where your exe file, log file and other items are residing.

Install the Service

To install our Asp.Net console application as a windows service, you can use the sc command. Open the command prompt with administrator privilege and run the preceding command.

And then you can start the service by running the command as “sc start BackupService”. This should start your service.

Giving Permission to the Folders

Sometimes you may get some permission issue in your service as it doesn’t have enough permission to read the files form the C drive. To overcome this, you should give enough permission to the user. You can do this by editing the security properties of those folders.

Do the same for the BackupZip folder as well.

Output

If you have run the service correctly, you should see a log file with the name backupclientlogfile.txt inside your win7-x64 folder. Once the service is run, the logs will be written as follows.

You can also check your Azure Storage account to check whether the files have uploaded correctly or not.

Conclusion

Wow!. Now we have learned,

• about Windows Service and Asp.Net Console Application
• about How to create a Windows Service using Asp.Net Core
• about How to use Quartz scheduler
• about How to use NLog in Windows Service
• about How to configure Quartz scheduler to use Dependency Injection
• about How to Zip a folder and save the file
• about How to upload a file to the Azure blob storage

Your turn. What do you think?

Thanks a lot for reading. Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed in this article? Could you find this post as useful? Kindly do not forget to share me your feedback.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Introduction

Here, in this post we are going to a see some LINQ queries, which covers both basics and advanced. LINQ queries are introduced few years back to offer a consistent way for working with data across many datasources and formats. In LINQ queries, you will always work with objects, which makes it simple to write. I hope you would have already written lots of LINQ queries already, if you haven’t, I strongly reccommend you to read this blog where you can find the answer for, why do we need to use LINQ?. Here I am going to create a MVC demo application. I hope you will like this. Now let’s begin.

Download Source Code

Background

Whenever I get a chance to write some server side codes in C#, I always write it using LINQ. And few weeks back, I was assigned to a training programme where my job was to teach LINQ, hence this post covers the the queries I have written for the training programme. Hope you will find it useful.

Using the code

A LINQ query can be written in two ways.

There are so many articles available in the Internet on the topic LINQ, but most of them dont cover the differences of writing the queries in two possible ways, the motive of this article is to write the queries in both ways, so that you can understand the differnces.

As I mentioned, we are going to create an MVC application, we need to create it first and then configure the entity. Let’s go and do that.

Create a database

To get started with we need to configure our database first. To do so, either you can download the Wild World Importers from here or you can run the script file included in the downlaod link above.

Once after you created the database, you can create your MVC application and Entity Data Model in it.

Configuring MVC application with Entity Data Model

By this time, I hope you would have configured your MVC application with Entity Data Model. Now it is time to create a controller and Entity object.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using LINQ_B_to_A.Models;
namespace LINQ_B_to_A.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{
// GET: Home

public MyDataModel DtContext { get; set; } = new MyDataModel();
}
}
[/csharp]

Now we can write some LINQ queries as everything is set to get started.

Setting up the Index view with possible actions

This is just to call the actions we are going write. Let’s see the Index page now.

[html]
@{
ViewBag.Title = "Index";
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}

<h2>Index</h2>
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("LoadAll","Home")’" value="Load All – Query Expression"/>
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("JoinWithWhere","Home")’" value="Join With Where" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("LeftJoin","Home")’" value="Left Join" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("DistinctSample","Home")’" value="Distinct Sample" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("EqualsSamples","Home")’" value="Equals Sample" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("NotEqualsSamples","Home")’" value="Not Equals" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("PagingQueries","Home")’" value="Paging Queries" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("MathQueries","Home")’" value="Math Queries" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("StringQueries","Home")’" value="String Queries" />
<input type="button" class="btn-info" onclick="location.href=’@Url.Action("SelectMany","Home")’" value="Select Many" />
[/html]

LINQ Basic to Advanced Index View

Normal Select Query With StartWith and Take

Let’s have a look at the preceding query.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq query with Select
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult LoadAll()
{
var loadAllData = (from d in DtContext.Cities where d.CityName.StartsWith("C") select d).Take(10);

//Method Chain Format
var loadAllData1 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName.StartsWith("C")).Take(10);

return PartialView(loadAllData);
}
[/csharp]

As you can see, we are just fetching the data from Cities in both ways. And we are using StartWith as a filter, which actually looks for the city names which starts with the letter C, and finally we are taking 10 elements from it. The first query is the “Query syntax” and the second one is “Method chain”. Personally I like the second way. How about you?

[html]
@model IQueryable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.City>
<style>
dd, dt, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

dd {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}
pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>
<dd>City Names</dd>
@foreach (var ctyObj in Model)
{
<dt>@ctyObj.CityName</dt>
}
<pre>
public ActionResult LoadAll()
{
var loadAllData = (from d in DtContext.Cities where d.CityName.StartsWith("C") select d).Take(10);

//Method Chain Format
var loadAllData1 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName.StartsWith("C")).Take(10);

return PartialView(loadAllData);
}
</pre>
[/html]

We are ready to see our first query in action now.

Let’s creat a partial view now to show the data we fetched.

JOIN Query

To write a join, the query would be as preceding.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq query with join and where
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult JoinWithWhere()
{
var loadAllData = (from oOrders in DtContext.Orders
join oOrderLines in DtContext.OrderLines
on oOrders.OrderID equals oOrderLines.OrderID
orderby oOrders.OrderID
select new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = oOrders.OrderID,
Description = oOrderLines.Description,
Quantity = oOrderLines.Quantity
}).Take(10);
//Method Chain Format
var asMethodChain = DtContext.Orders.Join(DtContext.OrderLines, oOrders => oOrders.OrderID,
oOrderLines => oOrderLines.OrderID,
(oOrders, oOrderLines) => new { oOrders, oOrderLines })
.OrderBy(@o => @o.oOrders.OrderID)
.Select(@s => new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = @s.oOrders.OrderID,
Description = @s.oOrderLines.Description,
Quantity = @s.oOrderLines.Quantity
}).Take(10);

return PartialView(loadAllData);
}
[/csharp]

In the above query we are just joining the tables Order and OrderLines with OrderID and to select we are using an another custom model OrderAndOrderLines.

[csharp]
namespace LINQ_B_to_A.Models
{
public partial class OrderAndOrderLines
{
public int OrderId { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public int? Quantity { get; set; }
}
}
[/csharp]

The view can be written as follows.

[html]
@model IEnumerable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.OrderAndOrderLines>
<style>
td, th, thead,pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

caption {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}
pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>

<table>
<caption>Order Details</caption>
<tr>
<th>Order ID</th>
<th>Description</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
</tr>
@foreach (var @item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>@item.OrderId</td>
<td>@item.Description</td>
<td>@item.Quantity</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<pre>
public ActionResult JoinWithWhere()
{
var loadAllData = (from oOrders in DtContext.Orders
join oOrderLines in DtContext.OrderLines
on oOrders.OrderID equals oOrderLines.OrderID
orderby oOrders.OrderID
select new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = oOrders.OrderID,
Description = oOrderLines.Description,
Quantity = oOrderLines.Quantity
}).Take(10);
//Method Chain Format
var asMethodChain = DtContext.Orders.Join(DtContext.OrderLines, oOrders => oOrders.OrderID,
oOrderLines => oOrderLines.OrderID,
(oOrders, oOrderLines) => new { oOrders, oOrderLines })
.OrderBy(o => o.oOrders.OrderID)
.Select(s => new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = s.oOrders.OrderID,
Description = s.oOrderLines.Description,
Quantity = s.oOrderLines.Quantity
}).Take(10);

return PartialView(loadAllData);
}
</pre>
[/html]

Once you run the action you can see the result as follows.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Join With Where

Left JOIN Query

To write a Left join, the query would be as preceding.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq query with Left Join
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult LeftJoin()
{
var loadAllData = (from oOrder in DtContext.Orders
join oOrderLine in DtContext.OrderLines
on oOrder.OrderID equals oOrderLine.OrderID
into lftOrder
from afterJoined in lftOrder.DefaultIfEmpty()
orderby oOrder.OrderID descending
select new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = oOrder.OrderID,
Description = afterJoined.Description
}).Take(10).ToList();
//Method Chain Format
var lftJoinMethodChain = (DtContext.Orders.GroupJoin(DtContext.OrderLines,
oOrder => oOrder.OrderID, oOrderLine => oOrderLine.OrderID,
(oOrder, lftJoin) => new { oOrder, lftJoin })
.SelectMany(@sm => @sm.lftJoin.DefaultIfEmpty(), (@sm, afterJoin) => new { @sm, afterJoin })
.OrderByDescending(@o => @o.sm.oOrder.OrderID)
.Select(@s => new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = @s.sm.oOrder.OrderID,
Description = @s.afterJoin.Description
})).Take(10).ToList();

return PartialView(loadAllData);
}
[/csharp]

In the above query we are just joining the tables Order and OrderLines with OrderID and to select we are using an another custom model OrderAndOrderLines as our previous query. The differences you could find here are, using an ‘into’ and ‘DefaultIfEmpty’ statements. The DefaultIfEmpty is making sure that it returns empty if there is no appropriate rows found in the second table.

The view can be written as follows.

[html]
@model IEnumerable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.OrderAndOrderLines>
<style>
td, th, thead, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

caption {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}
pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>

<table>
<caption>Order Details</caption>
<tr>
<th>Order ID</th>
<th>Description</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
</tr>
@foreach (var @item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>@item.OrderId</td>
<td>@item.Description</td>
<td>@item.Quantity</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<pre>
public ActionResult LeftJoin()
{
var loadAllData = (from oOrder in DtContext.Orders
join oOrderLine in DtContext.OrderLines
on oOrder.OrderID equals oOrderLine.OrderID
into lftOrder
from afterJoined in lftOrder.DefaultIfEmpty()
orderby oOrder.OrderID descending
select new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = oOrder.OrderID,
Description = afterJoined.Description
}).Take(10).ToList();
//Method Chain Format
var lftJoinMethodChain = (DtContext.Orders.GroupJoin(DtContext.OrderLines,
oOrder => oOrder.OrderID, oOrderLine => oOrderLine.OrderID,
(oOrder, lftJoin) => new { oOrder, lftJoin })
.SelectMany(sm => sm.lftJoin.DefaultIfEmpty(), (sm, afterJoin) => new { sm, afterJoin })
.OrderByDescending(o => o.sm.oOrder.OrderID)
.Select(s => new OrderAndOrderLines()
{
OrderId = s.sm.oOrder.OrderID,
Description = s.afterJoin.Description
})).Take(10).ToList();

return PartialView(loadAllData);
}
</pre>
[/html]

Once you run the action you can see the result as follows.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Left Join

As you can see in the image, the order id 200000 doesn’t has any appropriate rows in the second table, so it shows as empty.

Distinct Query

The below query shows how we can write simple distinct query.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq query Distinct sample
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult DistinctSample()
{
var distictSample = (from oOrder in DtContext.OrderLines
select oOrder.Description).Distinct().Take(10).ToList();

//Method Chain Format
var distictAsMethodChain = (DtContext.OrderLines.Select(oOrder => oOrder.Description)).Distinct().Take(10).ToList();

return PartialView(distictSample);
}
[/csharp]

In the above query we use Distinct to make sure that only distict items are selected from the result. The view can be written as follows.

[html]
@model List<string>
<style>
dd, dt, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

dd {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}

pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>
<dd>Order Descriptions</dd>
@foreach (var orderLinesyObj in Model)
{
<dt>@orderLinesyObj</dt>
}
<pre>
public ActionResult DistinctSample()
{
var distictSample = (from oOrder in DtContext.OrderLines
select oOrder.Description).Distinct().Take(10).ToList();

//Method Chain Format
var distictAsMethodChain = (DtContext.OrderLines.Select(oOrder => oOrder.Description)).Distinct().Take(10).ToList();

return PartialView(distictSample);
}
</pre>
[/html]

Once you run the action you can see the result as follows.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Distinct Query

Equals and Not Equals Queries

We can write the equals and not equals query as preceding.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq query Equals sample
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult EqualsSamples()
{
var objEquals = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where objCity.CityName.Equals("Troy")
select objCity).Take(2);
//Method Chain Format
var objEquals1 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName.Equals("Troy")).Take(2);

return PartialView("OperatorSamples", objEquals);
}

/// <summary>
/// Linq query Not Equals sample
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult NotEqualsSamples()
{
var objNotEquals = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where objCity.CityName != "Troy"
select objCity).Take(5);

var objNotEquals1 = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where !objCity.CityName.Equals("Troy")
select objCity).Take(5);

//Method Chain Format
var objNotEquals2 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName != "Troy").Take(2);

var objNotEquals3 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => !d.CityName.Equals("Troy")).Take(2);

return PartialView("OperatorSamples", objNotEquals);
}
[/csharp]

The view can be written as follows.

[html]
@model IQueryable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.City>
<style>
td, th, thead, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

caption {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}

pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>

<table>
<caption>City Details</caption>
<tr>
<th>City ID</th>
<th>City Name</th>
<th>City Location</th>
</tr>
@foreach (var @item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>@item.CityID</td>
<td>@item.CityName</td>
<td>@item.Location</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<caption>Equals Oerator</caption>
<pre>
public ActionResult EqualsSamples()
{
var objEquals = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where objCity.CityName.Equals("Troy")
select objCity).Take(2);
//Method Chain Format
var objEquals1 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName.Equals("Troy")).Take(2);

return PartialView("OperatorSamples", objEquals);
}

public ActionResult NotEqualsSamples()
{
var objNotEquals = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where objCity.CityName != "Troy"
select objCity).Take(5);

var objNotEquals1 = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where !objCity.CityName.Equals("Troy")
select objCity).Take(5);

//Method Chain Format
var objNotEquals2 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName != "Troy").Take(2);

var objNotEquals3 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => !d.CityName.Equals("Troy")).Take(2);

return PartialView("OperatorSamples", objNotEquals);
}

public ActionResult PagingQueries()
{
var objNotEquals = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where objCity.CityName != "Troy"
orderby objCity.CityName ascending
select objCity).Skip(5).Take(5);

//Method Chain Format
var objNotEquals2 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName != "Troy").Skip(5).Take(5);

return PartialView("OperatorSamples", objNotEquals);
}
</pre>
[/html]

Once you run the action you can see the result as follows.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Equals and Not Equals

LINQ Paging Queries

Paging queries are always important as we work in some grid controls, with LINQ those are very easy. Let’s see one of that query.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq Paging Queries
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult PagingQueries()
{
var objNotEquals = (from objCity in DtContext.Cities
where objCity.CityName != "Troy"
orderby objCity.CityName ascending
select objCity).Skip(5).Take(5);

//Method Chain Format
var objNotEquals2 = DtContext.Cities.Where(d => d.CityName != "Troy").Skip(5).Take(5);

return PartialView("OperatorSamples", objNotEquals);
}
[/csharp]

Once you run the action you can see the result as follows.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Paging Queries

LINQ Math Queries

Here we are going to write the possible Math functions in our LINQ query.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Math Queries
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult MathQueries()
{
var objMath = (from objInv in DtContext.InvoiceLines
where objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15
orderby objInv.InvoiceLineID descending
select new MathClass()
{
Actual = objInv.ExtendedPrice,
Round = Math.Round(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Floor = Math.Floor(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Ceiling = Math.Ceiling(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Abs = Math.Abs(objInv.ExtendedPrice)
}).Take(10);

//Method Chain Format
var objMath2 = DtContext.InvoiceLines
.Where(objInv => objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15)
.OrderByDescending(o => o.InvoiceLineID)
.Select(objInv => new MathClass()
{
Actual = objInv.ExtendedPrice,
Round = Math.Round(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Floor = Math.Floor(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Ceiling = Math.Ceiling(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Abs = Math.Abs(objInv.ExtendedPrice)
}).Take(10);

return PartialView("MathQueries", objMath);
}
[/csharp]

As you can see we have written most of the possible Math functions in our query and selecting with a custome model MathClass.

[csharp]
namespace LINQ_B_to_A.Models
{
public partial class MathClass
{
public decimal Actual { get; set; }
public decimal Round { get; set; }
public decimal Floor { get; set; }
public decimal Ceiling { get; set; }
public decimal Abs { get; set; }
}
}
[/csharp]

Let’s see the view now.

[html]

@model IQueryable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.MathClass>
<style>
td, th, thead, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

caption {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}

pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>

<table>
<caption>Math Operators</caption>
<tr>

</tr>
@foreach (var @item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>Actual: @item.Actual</td>
<td>Round: @item.Round</td>
<td>Floor: @item.Floor</td>
<td>Ceiling: @item.Ceiling</td>
<td>Abs: @item.Abs</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<pre>
public ActionResult MathQueries()
{
var objMath = (from objInv in DtContext.InvoiceLines
where objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15
orderby objInv.InvoiceLineID descending
select new MathClass()
{
Actual = objInv.ExtendedPrice,
Round = Math.Round(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Floor = Math.Floor(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Ceiling = Math.Ceiling(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Abs = Math.Abs(objInv.ExtendedPrice)
}).Take(10);

//Method Chain Format
var objMath2 = DtContext.InvoiceLines
.Where(objInv => objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15)
.OrderByDescending(o => o.InvoiceLineID)
.Select(objInv => new MathClass()
{
Actual = objInv.ExtendedPrice,
Round = Math.Round(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Floor = Math.Floor(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Ceiling = Math.Ceiling(objInv.ExtendedPrice),
Abs = Math.Abs(objInv.ExtendedPrice)
}).Take(10);

return PartialView("MathQueries", objMath);
}
</pre>
[/html]

See the result now.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Math Queries

LINQ String Queries

As we saw the Math queries, here we are going to write the possible String functions in our LINQ query.

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// String Queries
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult StringQueries()
{
var objString = (from objInv in DtContext.InvoiceLines
where objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15
orderby objInv.InvoiceLineID descending
select new StringClass()
{
Actual = objInv.Description,
Insert = objInv.Description.Insert(2, "sibeeshpassion"),
Remove = objInv.Description.Remove(1, 1),
Substring = objInv.Description.Substring(2, 3),
ToLower = objInv.Description.ToLower(),
ToUpper = objInv.Description.ToUpper(),
TrimEnd = objInv.Description.TrimEnd(),
TrimStart = objInv.Description.TrimStart()
}).Take(2);

//Method Chain Format
var objString2 = DtContext.InvoiceLines
.Where(objInv => objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15)
.OrderByDescending(o => o.InvoiceLineID)
.Select(objInv => new StringClass()
{
Actual = objInv.Description,
Insert = objInv.Description.Insert(2, "sibeeshpassion"),
Remove = objInv.Description.Remove(1, 1),
Substring = objInv.Description.Substring(2, 3),
ToLower = objInv.Description.ToLower(),
ToUpper = objInv.Description.ToUpper(),
TrimEnd = objInv.Description.TrimEnd(),
TrimStart = objInv.Description.TrimStart()
}).Take(2);

return PartialView("StringQueries", objString);
}
[/csharp]

As you can see, here we are using a custom model StringClass.

[csharp]
namespace LINQ_B_to_A.Models
{
public partial class StringClass
{
public string Actual { get; set; }
public string Insert { get; set; }
public string Remove { get; set; }
public string Substring { get; set; }
public string ToUpper { get; set; }
public string ToLower { get; set; }
public string TrimStart { get; set; }
public string TrimEnd { get; set; }
}
}
[/csharp]

Let’s see the view now.

[html]

@model IQueryable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.StringClass>
<style>
td, th, thead, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

caption {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}

pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>

<table>
<caption>String Operators</caption>
<tr>

</tr>
@foreach (var @item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>Actual: @item.Actual</td>
<td>Insert: @item.Insert</td>
<td>Remove: @item.Remove</td>
<td>Substring: @item.Substring</td>
<td>ToLower: @item.ToLower</td>
<td>ToUpper: @item.ToUpper</td>
<td>TrimEnd: @item.TrimEnd</td>
<td>TrimStart: @item.TrimStart</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<pre>
public ActionResult StringQueries()
{
var objString = (from objInv in DtContext.InvoiceLines
where objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15
orderby objInv.InvoiceLineID descending
select new StringClass()
{

Actual = objInv.Description,
Insert = objInv.Description.Insert(2,"sibeeshpassion"),
Remove = objInv.Description.Remove(1,1),
Substring = objInv.Description.Substring(2,3),
ToLower = objInv.Description.ToLower(),
ToUpper = objInv.Description.ToUpper(),
TrimEnd = objInv.Description.TrimEnd(),
TrimStart = objInv.Description.TrimStart()
}).Take(2);

//Method Chain Format
var objString2 = DtContext.InvoiceLines
.Where(objInv => objInv.ExtendedPrice > 10 && objInv.Quantity < 15)
.OrderByDescending(o => o.InvoiceLineID)
.Select(objInv => new StringClass()
{
Actual = objInv.Description,
Insert = objInv.Description.Insert(2, "sibeeshpassion"),
Remove = objInv.Description.Remove(1, 1),
Substring = objInv.Description.Substring(2, 3),
ToLower = objInv.Description.ToLower(),
ToUpper = objInv.Description.ToUpper(),
TrimEnd = objInv.Description.TrimEnd(),
TrimStart = objInv.Description.TrimStart()
}).Take(2);

return PartialView("StringQueries", objString);
}
</pre>
[/html]

Now see the result.

LINQ Basic to Advanced String Queries

SelectMany Query

A SelectMany query flattern the result to a single dimentional collection, so to loop through the result we just need only one loop.

LINQ Basic to Advanced SelectMany Tooltip

If you use the normal Select, you will be getting a list of lists, thus you will have to use two loops to get the datas.

LINQ Basic to Advanced Select Tooltip

[csharp]
/// <summary>
/// Linq query with SelectMany
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult SelectMany()
{
var selectMany = DtContext.Orders.SelectMany(order => order.Invoices).Take(10);
var select = DtContext.Orders.Select(order => order.Invoices).Take(10);
return PartialView("SelectMany", selectMany);
}
[/csharp]

Let’s see the view now.

[html]
@model IQueryable<LINQ_B_to_A.Models.Invoice>
<style>
td, th, thead, pre {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 5px;
margin: 5px;
width: auto;
width: 20%;
}

caption {
background-color: #a9a9a9
}

pre {
width: auto;
}
</style>

<table>
<caption>Invoice Details</caption>
<tr>
<th>Order ID</th>
<th>Invoice ID</th>
<th>Invoice Date</th>
</tr>
@foreach (var @item in Model)
{
<tr>
<td>@item.OrderID</td>
<td>@item.InvoiceID</td>
<td>@item.InvoiceDate</td>
</tr>
}
</table>
<caption>Select Many</caption>
<pre>
/// <summary>
/// Linq query with SelectMany
/// </summary>
/// <returns></returns>
public ActionResult SelectMany()
{
var selectMany = DtContext.Orders.SelectMany(order => order.Invoices).Take(10);
var select = DtContext.Orders.Select(order => order.Invoices).Take(10);
return PartialView("SelectMany", selectMany);
}
</pre>
[/html]

Now see the result.

That’s all for today, I will come with another set of LINQ queries in the next part. Till then, bye.

LINQ Basic to Advanced SelectMany

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Download source code

Background

As a developer, we all writes lots of codes in our day to day life. Am I right? It is more important to check whether the codes we have written works well. So for that we developer usually do unit testing, few developers are doing a manual testing to just check whether the functionality is working or not. I would say that it is wrong. In a TDD (Test Driven Development) unit testing is very important, where we actually writes the test cases before we start our coding. Let us see what exactly the “Unit Tesing” is.

Unit Testing

Unit testing is the process of testing a unit, it can be a class, a block of codde, function, a property. We can easily test our units independently. In dot net we have so many frameworks to do unit testing. But here we are going to use NUnit which I found very easy to write tests.

If you have Resharper installed in your machine, it will be more easier to execute and debug your tests. Here I am using Resharper in my Visual Studio, so the screenshots will be based on that. Thank you

Now it is time to set up our project and start our coding.

Setting up the project

To get started, please create an empty project in your Visual Studio.

empty_project

Now, we will add a WCF Service as follows.

create_a_wcf_service

Once you are done, you can see two files, an Interface(IMyService) and a class (MyService) with .svc extension. If you are completely new to WCF service, I strongly recommend you to read some basics here.

Now, it is time to set up our database and insert some data.

Creating database

Here I am creating a database with name “TrialDB”, you can always create a DB by running the query given below.

[sql]
USE [master]
GO

/****** Object: Database [TrialDB] Script Date: 20-11-2016 03:54:53 PM ******/
CREATE DATABASE [TrialDB]
CONTAINMENT = NONE
ON PRIMARY
( NAME = N’TrialDB’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\TrialDB.mdf’ , SIZE = 8192KB , MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED, FILEGROWTH = 65536KB )
LOG ON
( NAME = N’TrialDB_log’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\DATA\TrialDB_log.ldf’ , SIZE = 8192KB , MAXSIZE = 2048GB , FILEGROWTH = 65536KB )
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 130
GO

IF (1 = FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY(‘IsFullTextInstalled’))
begin
EXEC [TrialDB].[dbo].[sp_fulltext_database] @action = ‘enable’
end
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET ANSI_NULL_DEFAULT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET ARITHABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET CURSOR_DEFAULT GLOBAL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET DISABLE_BROKER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET TRUSTWORTHY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET PARAMETERIZATION SIMPLE
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET HONOR_BROKER_PRIORITY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET RECOVERY SIMPLE
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET MULTI_USER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET DB_CHAINING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET FILESTREAM( NON_TRANSACTED_ACCESS = OFF )
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME = 60 SECONDS
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET DELAYED_DURABILITY = DISABLED
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET QUERY_STORE = OFF
GO

USE [TrialDB]
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION SET MAXDOP = 0;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION FOR SECONDARY SET MAXDOP = PRIMARY;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION SET LEGACY_CARDINALITY_ESTIMATION = OFF;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION FOR SECONDARY SET LEGACY_CARDINALITY_ESTIMATION = PRIMARY;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION SET PARAMETER_SNIFFING = ON;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION FOR SECONDARY SET PARAMETER_SNIFFING = PRIMARY;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION SET QUERY_OPTIMIZER_HOTFIXES = OFF;
GO

ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION FOR SECONDARY SET QUERY_OPTIMIZER_HOTFIXES = PRIMARY;
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialDB] SET READ_WRITE
GO
[/sql]

Create a table and insert data in database

To create a table, you can run the query below.

[sql]
USE [TrialDB]
GO

/****** Object: Table [dbo].[Course] Script Date: 20-11-2016 03:57:30 PM ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Course](
[CourseID] [int] NOT NULL,
[CourseName] [nvarchar](50) NOT NULL,
[CourseDescription] [nvarchar](100) NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_Course] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[CourseID] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

GO
[/sql]

Now we can insert few data to our newly created table.

[sql]
USE [TrialDB]
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[Course]
([CourseID]
,[CourseName]
,[CourseDescription])
VALUES
(1
,’C#’
,’Learn C# in 7 days’)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[Course]
([CourseID]
,[CourseName]
,[CourseDescription])
VALUES
(2
,’Asp.Net’
,’Learn Asp.Net in 7 days’)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[Course]
([CourseID]
,[CourseName]
,[CourseDescription])
VALUES
(3
,’SQL’
,’Learn SQL in 7 days’)
INSERT INTO [dbo].[Course]
([CourseID]
,[CourseName]
,[CourseDescription])
VALUES
(4
,’JavaScript’
,’Learn JavaScript in 7 days’)
GO
[/sql]

So our data is ready, that means we are all set to write our service and tests. Now go to your solution and create an entity data model.

entity_framework

So entity is also been created. Now please open your interface and that is where we start our coding. We can change the interface as follows.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.Text;

namespace WCF_NUnit_Tests_Rheno_Mocks
{
[ServiceContract]
public interface IMyService
{
[OperationContract]
Course GetCourseById(int courseId);
[OperationContract]
List<Course> GetAllCourses();
}
}
[/csharp]

Here we have created two operations, one to get a course by id and one to retrieve all the courses as a list. Now please go and implement these two operations in our service file. You can modify that class as follows.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.ServiceModel;
using System.Text;

namespace WCF_NUnit_Tests_Rheno_Mocks
{
public class MyService : IMyService
{
private static MyEntity _myContext;
private static IMyService _myIService;

public MyService()
{

}

public MyService(IMyService myIService)
{
_myContext = new MyEntity();
_myIService = myIService;
}
public Course GetCourseById(int courseId)
{
var crse = _myContext.Courses.FirstOrDefault(dt => dt.CourseID == courseId);
return crse;
}

public List<Course> GetAllCourses()
{
var courses = (from dt in _myContext.Courses select dt).ToList();
return courses;
}
}
}
[/csharp]

In the above code, as you can see we are creating two constructor one is without parameter and other is with parameter, and we are having IMyService as a parameter. In this way we can achieve the dependency injection when we write tests for our unit. So what we need to do all is, just pass the dependency, in this case it is IMyService.

In software engineering, dependency injection is a software design pattern that implements inversion of control for resolving dependencies. A dependency is an object that can be used (a service). An injection is the passing of a dependency to a dependent object (a client) that would use it. Source: WikiPedia

If you need to know more on dependency injection, please read here. Now we will build and check whether our service is working fine or not. Please press CTRL+F5.

invoking_wcf_service

As our services are ready, we can now create the tests for those operations. For that we can create a new class library in our project and name it UnitTest.Service. Please add a class MyServiceTests in the class library where we can add our tests. And please do not forget to add our application reference too.

add_project_reference

Installing and configuring NUnit

Now we can install NUnit to our test project from NuGet Package. Once you add the package, you will be able to add the preceding namespace in our MyServiceTests class.

[csharp]
using NUnit.Framework;
[/csharp]

In NUnit we have so many attributes that can be used for different purposes, but now we are going to use only four among them.

testfixture_in_nunit

one_time_setup_attribute_in_nunit

In previous versions, we were using TestFixtureSetUp, as the TestFixtureSetUp is obsolete, now we are using OneTimeSetUp

testfixturesetup_attribute_is_obsolete

This attribute is used to identify a method that is called immediately after each tests, it will be called even if there is any error, this is the place we can dispose our objects.

This attribute is used to make a method callable from NUnit test runner. This can not be inherited.

Now we can see all these attributes in action. So let us write some tests, but the real problem is we need to mock the IMyService right as the parameterized constructor of the class MyService expecting it. Remember, we have discussed about setting up our services in the way which can be injected the dependencies? No worries, we can install Rhino Mock for that now.

rhino_mocks_in_nuget_package

So we can add the tests are dependencies as follows in our test class.

[csharp]
using NUnit.Framework;
using Rhino.Mocks;
using WCF_NUnit_Tests_Rhino_Mocks;

namespace UnitTest.Service
{
[TestFixture]
public class MyServiceTests
{
private static MyService _myService;
private IMyService _myIservice;
[OneTimeSetUp]
public void SetUp()
{
_myIservice = MockRepository.GenerateMock<IMyService>();
_myService = new MyService(_myIservice);

}

[TearDown]
public void Clean()
{

}

[Test(Description = "A test to check whether the returned value is null")]
public void GetCourseById_Return_NotNull_Pass()
{
//Set Up
var crs = new Course
{
CourseID = 1,
CourseName = "C#",
CourseDescription = "Learn course in 7 days"
};
_myIservice.Stub(dt => dt.GetCourseById(1)).IgnoreArguments().Return(crs);

//Act
crs = _myService.GetCourseById(1);

//Assert
Assert.IsNotNull(crs,"The returned value is null");
}

[Test(Description = "A test to check we get all the courses")]
public void GetAllCourses_Return_List_Count_Pass()
{
//Act
var crs = _myService.GetAllCourses();

//Assert
Assert.AreEqual(4, crs.Count,"The count of retrieved data doesn’t match");
_myIservice.VerifyAllExpectations();
}

}
}
[/csharp]

As you can see we have mocked our IMyService as follows.

[csharp]
_myIservice = MockRepository.GenerateMock<IMyService>();
[/csharp]

generate_mock_with_rhino

And, in the test GetCourseById_Return_NotNull_Pass we have also used a method called Stub. Stub actually tell the mock object to perform a certain action when a matching method is called, and it doesn’t create an expectation for the same. So you might be thinking, how can we create an expectation? For that we have a method called Expect.

expect_in_rhino_mock

It is always recommended to verify your expectation when you use Expect as we used it in our test GetAllCourses_Return_List_Count_Pass.

[csharp]
_myIservice.VerifyAllExpectations();
[/csharp]

As I already said, I am using Resharper, we have so many shortcuts to run our tests, now if you right click on your TestFixture. You can see a run all option as preceding.

run_all_test_option_in_resharper

As I was getting an error as “No connection string named ‘Entity’ could be found in the application config file.” when I run the tests, I was forced to install the entity framework in my test project and also add a new config file with the connection string like we have in our web config file.

If everything goes fine and you don’t have any errors, I am sure you will get a screen as preceding.

nunit_output

Happy coding!.

See also

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Background

I used to secure my config file if I am the who starts the project. Here you will get to know how easy the procedure is to encrypt the connection string. There is only a few steps to be followed. I will explain those.

Agenda

The following is the agenda we are going to follow.

Perquisites

Create an empty project

To create an empty project, go to File->New->New Project->Name the project->Select Empty->Click OK. Hope you get a solution as follows.

Empty Solution

Now We will connect to a database. To connect, please click on the connect icon in your server explorer window and connect you Local/Server database.

Connect to Database

Add a connection string

Now it is time to add our connection string, hope you got your data source of the database we already connected. The connection string property must be placed under configuration tag in your web config file. Here is mine.

[xml]
<connectionStrings>
<add name="myConnection" connectionString="Data Source=SIBEESHVENU\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=ReportServer$SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=True" />
</connectionStrings>
[/xml]

Now we will create a web page and in the page load event we will fetch this connection string and write it as a response.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

namespace EncryptConnectionString
{
public partial class Default : System.Web.UI.Page
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (!IsPostBack)
{
try
{
string myCon = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["myConnection"].ConnectionString;
if (myCon != null)
{
Response.Write("My connection string is :" + myCon);
}
}
catch (Exception)
{

throw;
}
}
}
}
}
[/csharp]

Please run your page, you will see your connection string in your page.

Connection string response

Encrypt connection string

To start the process, you must open your command window with the admin privilege. Then type the following command.

[csharp]
cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
[/csharp]

This command will narrate you to the framework version folder given. Now right click on your project and click open folder in file explorer and then copy the location. For me it is F:\Visual Studio\EncryptConnectionString\EncryptConnectionString. Now please go back to your command prompt and type the command as follows.

[csharp]
ASPNET_REGIIS -PEF "connectionStrings" "F:\Visual Studio\EncryptConnectionString\EncryptConnectionString"
[/csharp]

Once you click the enter. You will get the output as follows.

Encrypt ConnectionString Output

Please be noted that the text connectionStrings is case sensitive. If you don’t give it as it is, you will get an error as follows.

[csharp]
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319>ASPNET_REGIIS -PEF "connectionstrings" "F:\Visual Studio\EncryptConnectionString\EncryptConnectionString"
Microsoft (R) ASP.NET RegIIS version 4.0.30319.0
Administration utility to install and uninstall ASP.NET on the local machine.
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Encrypting configuration section…
The configuration section ‘connectionstrings’ was not found.
Failed!
[/csharp]

So please be careful while you type the commands. Now I am going back to our application and see the config file. Shall we? You can see the connection string is encrypted as follows.

[xml]
<connectionStrings configProtectionProvider="RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider">
<EncryptedData Type="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#Element"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">
<EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#tripledes-cbc" />
<KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
<EncryptedKey xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#">
<EncryptionMethod Algorithm="http://www.w3.org/2001/04/xmlenc#rsa-1_5" />
<KeyInfo xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/09/xmldsig#">
<KeyName>Rsa Key</KeyName>
</KeyInfo>
<CipherData>
<CipherValue>B4B3oZrbpQsYM7Eaq5smukqDj9XUYUCwygBYRG1iasN4ll5W4wAKVCIFCRfvOJGoIXzgqpyjAI30IKf5pnZ/xWqmo3p/wGfOKdMrzd041dt9llLGbxFpLJs0Nkm583PJ1FppXLAy7FOD0YoBVhG/PBtBgLjTQqcXRNbVcgufzuArlv/EH+7lzSNRclXSTMOPMtISF65hPI9ICj9qLx7RBGhVZ6uFZVFteyyuRd2i3D2r7wJfr6KflFkakdxp1OWE2JK4Ldb8kZSwAy3bNaI/qaV9EgIWt9wM6RZO/IrI3kI/bX8JuvirPw3j/+TLDB3MoIgKjSbLpR3GYTm9csPu8g==</CipherValue>
</CipherData>
</EncryptedKey>
</KeyInfo>
<CipherData>
<CipherValue>0n1Y6ScSNZDR4x1sXfK05w9h+pp2OrAEQFQsoAUP5Y/hPsfpJS/7jv21PbPlkYmdCzycM4PGGb0+fuffR3RuL1x0tn7rfyUdA9llTfkyRQKwS9xOmkMsVFXgQDr8P4aXGef1fZPE2gjhcjm/JQToLwsfQZK1gNr4d6cIPFNqKD6wt24F7fuySJPX3OgLb8wXfQMd7ij+JcZzNlnyNHbq/DIjxSpPOnMrC52t06Jj8F8+MsSud9GcijcFB2UhvLVXQwyZ51nEj6Tf36Zbca8bgw==</CipherValue>
</CipherData>
</EncryptedData>
</connectionStrings>
[/xml]

Decrypt connection string

You can always decrypt the connection string if you want, to decrypt you just need follows the commands as follows in the command prompt.

[csharp]
cd C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
[/csharp]

Once after you did you the above command you can execute the preceding one.

[csharp]
ASPNET_REGIIS -PDF "connectionStrings" "F:\Visual Studio\EncryptConnectionString\EncryptConnectionString"
[/csharp]

The text ‘connectionString’ is case sensitive as mentioned above

If the command is correct, you can get an output as follows.

Decrypting connectionString

Now if you check your Web config again, you can see the connection string has got encrypted. Have a happy coding!.

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Download the source code

You can always download the source code here: API Help Page Documentation

Background

Few months back I have hosted one of my API application to Azure. I thought of implementing the document summary for the services(controllers actions) now. And I did, now any one can understand what exactly my service will do by going to the help page of the API application. I will show you a demo of the same. Here we will create a Web API with entity framework. Lets us start then.

Setting up database

Here I am going to create a database which I created for my demo purposes, you can always create this database by running the queries mentioned here.

Create database

[sql]
USE [master]
GO

/****** Object: Database [TrialsDB] Script Date: 5/12/2016 10:56:41 AM ******/
CREATE DATABASE [TrialsDB]
CONTAINMENT = NONE
ON PRIMARY
( NAME = N’TrialsDB’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB.mdf’ , SIZE = 3072KB , MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED, FILEGROWTH = 1024KB )
LOG ON
( NAME = N’TrialsDB_log’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB_log.ldf’ , SIZE = 1024KB , MAXSIZE = 2048GB , FILEGROWTH = 10%)
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 110
GO

IF (1 = FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY(‘IsFullTextInstalled’))
begin
EXEC [TrialsDB].[dbo].[sp_fulltext_database] @action = ‘enable’
end
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULL_DEFAULT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ARITHABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_DEFAULT GLOBAL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DISABLE_BROKER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TRUSTWORTHY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PARAMETERIZATION SIMPLE
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET HONOR_BROKER_PRIORITY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECOVERY FULL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET MULTI_USER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DB_CHAINING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET FILESTREAM( NON_TRANSACTED_ACCESS = OFF )
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME = 0 SECONDS
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_WRITE
GO
[/sql]

Create table with data

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO
/****** Object: Table [dbo].[Product] Script Date: 5/12/2016 10:54:48 AM ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO
SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Product](
[ProductID] [int] NOT NULL,
[Name] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
[ProductNumber] [nvarchar](25) NOT NULL,
[MakeFlag] [bit] NOT NULL,
[FinishedGoodsFlag] [bit] NOT NULL,
[Color] [nvarchar](15) NULL,
[SafetyStockLevel] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[ReorderPoint] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[StandardCost] [money] NOT NULL,
[ListPrice] [money] NOT NULL,
[Size] [nvarchar](5) NULL,
[SizeUnitMeasureCode] [nchar](3) NULL,
[WeightUnitMeasureCode] [nchar](3) NULL,
[Weight] [decimal](8, 2) NULL,
[DaysToManufacture] [int] NOT NULL,
[ProductLine] [nchar](2) NULL,
[Class] [nchar](2) NULL,
[Style] [nchar](2) NULL,
[ProductSubcategoryID] [int] NULL,
[ProductModelID] [int] NULL,
[SellStartDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[SellEndDate] [datetime] NULL,
[DiscontinuedDate] [datetime] NULL,
[rowguid] [uniqueidentifier] ROWGUIDCOL NOT NULL,
[ModifiedDate] [datetime] NOT NULL
) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]
GO
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (1, N’Adjustable Race’, N’AR-5381′, 0, 0, NULL, 1000, 750, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’694215b7-08f7-4c0d-acb1-d734ba44c0c8′, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (2, N’Bearing Ball’, N’BA-8327′, 0, 0, NULL, 1000, 750, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’58ae3c20-4f3a-4749-a7d4-d568806cc537′, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (3, N’BB Ball Bearing’, N’BE-2349′, 1, 0, NULL, 800, 600, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 1, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’9c21aed2-5bfa-4f18-bcb8-f11638dc2e4e’, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (4, N’Headset Ball Bearings’, N’BE-2908′, 0, 0, NULL, 800, 600, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’ecfed6cb-51ff-49b5-b06c-7d8ac834db8b’, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (316, N’Blade’, N’BL-2036′, 1, 0, NULL, 800, 600, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 1, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’e73e9750-603b-4131-89f5-3dd15ed5ff80′, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (317, N’LL Crankarm’, N’CA-5965′, 0, 0, N’Black’, 500, 375, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, N’L ‘, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’3c9d10b7-a6b2-4774-9963-c19dcee72fea’, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
INSERT [dbo].[Product] ([ProductID], [Name], [ProductNumber], [MakeFlag], [FinishedGoodsFlag], [Color], [SafetyStockLevel], [ReorderPoint], [StandardCost], [ListPrice], [Size], [SizeUnitMeasureCode], [WeightUnitMeasureCode], [Weight], [DaysToManufacture], [ProductLine], [Class], [Style], [ProductSubcategoryID], [ProductModelID], [SellStartDate], [SellEndDate], [DiscontinuedDate], [rowguid], [ModifiedDate]) VALUES (318, N’ML Crankarm’, N’CA-6738′, 0, 0, N’Black’, 500, 375, 0.0000, 0.0000, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0, NULL, N’M ‘, NULL, NULL, NULL, CAST(0x0000921E00000000 AS DateTime), NULL, NULL, N’eabb9a92-fa07-4eab-8955-f0517b4a4ca7’, CAST(0x00009A5C00A53CF8 AS DateTime))
[/sql]

Our database is ready, now create a Web API application in visual studio and then entity with the above mentioned database.

Creating Entity

If you don’t know how to create an entity in your solution, please read that here. I have mentioned the steps to be followed in that article. Once you have created the entity, you are good to go and create a API controller with the entity created. If you do so, The CRUD actions will be created automatically for you. You may need to edit those actions according to your needs.

Web API 2 Controller with actions, using Entity Framework

Select the Model Class, DBContext then name your controller and click OK. I hope a controller with the CRUD actions like preceding has been generated for you.

[csharp]
public class ProductsController : ApiController
{
private TrialsDBEntities db = new TrialsDBEntities();

// GET: api/Products
public IQueryable<Product> GetProducts()
{
return db.Products;
}

// GET: api/Products/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult GetProduct(int id)
{
Product product = db.Products.Find(id);
if (product == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

return Ok(product);
}

// PUT: api/Products/5
[ResponseType(typeof(void))]
public IHttpActionResult PutProduct(int id, Product product)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

if (id != product.ProductID)
{
return BadRequest();
}

db.Entry(product).State = EntityState.Modified;

try
{
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbUpdateConcurrencyException)
{
if (!ProductExists(id))
{
return NotFound();
}
else
{
throw;
}
}

return StatusCode(HttpStatusCode.NoContent);
}

// POST: api/Products
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult PostProduct(Product product)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

db.Products.Add(product);

try
{
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbUpdateException)
{
if (ProductExists(product.ProductID))
{
return Conflict();
}
else
{
throw;
}
}

return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = product.ProductID }, product);
}

// DELETE: api/Products/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult DeleteProduct(int id)
{
Product product = db.Products.Find(id);
if (product == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

db.Products.Remove(product);
db.SaveChanges();

return Ok(product);
}

protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing)
{
db.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}

private bool ProductExists(int id)
{
return db.Products.Count(e => e.ProductID == id) > 0;
}
}
[/csharp]

Now please run your application and go to the help page. You can see the API help page as follows.

API Help Page

As you can see ‘No documentation available.’ under description of all the service actions. No worries we will try to add some summary to the actions now. So we will change the code as follows.

[csharp]
#region GetProducts
/// <summary>
/// Get all the products available
/// GET: api/Products
/// </summary>
public IQueryable<Product> GetProducts()
{
return db.Products;
}
#endregion

#region GetProductWithParameter
/// <summary>
/// Get a single product
/// GET: api/Products/5
/// <param name="id"></param>
/// </summary>
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult GetProduct(int id)
{
Product product = db.Products.Find(id);
if (product == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

return Ok(product);
}
#endregion
[/csharp]

Now run your application and see the help page. Still the same result? Hmm, here comes the things we need to do. I will explain that.

[csharp]
config.SetDocumentationProvider(new XmlDocumentationProvider(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("App_Data/XmlDocument.xml")));
[/csharp]

This will create a XML document with the name XmlDocument.xml in App_Data folder. Once it is generated, the summary you have described in your API controller will be listed there. Initially the file will be in excluded state, you may need to include the same to your project when you deploy your API application. For that please follows the below steps.

That’s all. Run your application and see the Help page again. Hope you get the page as follows.

API Help Page With Descriptions

Have a happy coding!.

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

• MVC Tips, Tricks, Blogs
• Web API Tips, Tricks, Blogs

Now we will go and create our application. I hope you will like this.

Download the source code

You can always download the source code here.

• Web API Application and Consumer

Background

We all use Web API in our applications to implement HTTP services. HTTP services are much simpler than ever if we use Web API. But the fact is, the benefits of a Web API is not limited to that. Previously we use WCF services instead of Web API, where we were working with endpoints and all. Here I am going to explain an important feature of a Web API that we can call Web API from our server itself instead of using an Ajax Call. That is pretty cool, right? Now we will create our application.

First, we will create our Web API application.

Creating Web API application

Click File-> New-> Project then select MVC application. We will select the template as empty from the following pop-up and select the core references and folders for MVC.

Once you click OK, a project with MVC like folder structure with core references will be created for you.

Using the code

We will set up our database first so that we can create an Entity Model for our application later.

Create a database

The following query can be used to create a database in your SQL Server.

Now we will create the table we needed. As of now, I am going to create the table tblTags

Create tables in the database

Below is the query to create the table tblTags.

Can we insert some data into the tables now?

Insert data to the table

You can use the below query to insert the data to the table tblTags

The next thing we are going to do is creating an ADO.NET Entity Data Model.

Create Entity Data Model

Right-click on your model folder and click new, select ADO.NET Entity Data Model. Follow the steps given. Once you have done the processes, you can see the edmx file and other files in your model folder. Here I gave Dashboard for our Entity data model name. Now you can see a file with an edmx extension has been created.
Now will create our Web API controller.

Create Web API Controller

To create a Web API controller, just right click on your controller folder and click Add -> Controller -> Select Web API 2 controller with actions, using Entity Framework.

Now select tblTag (WebAPIWithHttpClient.Models) as our Model class and TrialsDBEntities (WebAPIWithHttpClient.Models) as data context class. This time we will select controller with async actions.

As you can see It has been given the name of our controller as tblTags. Here I am not going to change that, if you wish to change, you can do that.

Now you will be given the following codes in our new Web API controller.

As you can see, we have actions for,

• Get
• Post
• Put
• Delete

So the coding part to fetch the data from the database is ready, now we need to check whether our Web API is ready for action!. To check that, you just need to run the URL http://localhost:7967/api/tbltags. Here tblTags is our Web API controller name. I hope you get the data as a result.

As of now, our Web API application is ready, and we have just tested whether it is working or not. Now we can move on to create a console application where we can consume this Web API with the help of HttpClient. So shall we do that?

Create Console Application To Consume Web API

To create a console application, Click File -> New -> Click Windows -> Select Console application -> Name your application -> OK

I hope now you have a class called Program. cs with the below codes.

Now we will start our coding, We will create a class called tblTag with some properties so that we can use those when we need them.

To get started using the class HttpClient, you must import the namespace as follows.

using System.Net.Http;

Once you have imported the namespaces, we will set our HttpClient and the properties as follows.

As you can see we are just giving the base address of our API and setting the response header. Now we will create an async action to get the data from our database by calling our Web API.

Get operation using HttpClient

MyAPIGet(cons).Wait();

Following is the definition of the MyAPIGet function.

Here res.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); ensure that it throws errors if we get any. If you don’t need to throw the errors, please remove this line of code. If the async call is a success, the value in IsSuccessStatusCode will be true.

Now when you run the above code, there are chances to get an error as follows.

Error CS1061 ‘HttpContent’ does not contain a definition for ‘ReadAsAsync’ and no extension method ‘ReadAsAsync’ accepting a first argument of type ‘HttpContent’ could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)

This is just because the ReadAsAsync is a part of System.Net.Http.Formatting.dll which we have not added to our application as a reference yet. Now we will do that? Sounds OK?

Just right click on the references and click add reference -> Click browse -> search for System.Net.Http.Formatting.dll – Click OK

Please add Newtonsoft.Json also. Now let us run our project and see our output.

Now shall we create a function for updating the record? Yes, we are going to create a function with the ‘Put’ request. Please copy and paste the preceding code for that.

Put operation using HttpClient

As you can see, we are updating the record as below once we get the response from await cons.GetAsync(“api/tblTags/2”) .

Again, run your application and check whether the tag name has been changed to ‘New Tag’.

Now did you see that your tag name has been changed? If yes, we are ready to go for our next operation. Are you ready?

Delete operation using HttpClient

We will follow the same procedure for delete operation too. Please see the code for the delete operation below.

To delete a record we uses res = await cons.DeleteAsync(“api/tblTags/2”); method. Now run your application and see the result.

What action is pending now? Yes, it is Post.

Post-operation using HttpClient

Please add the below function to your project for the post-operation.

We are just creating a new tblTag and assign some values, once the object is ready we are calling the method PostAsJsonAsync as follows.

As you have noticed, I have not provided the tagId in the object, do you know why? I have already set Identity Specification with Identity Increment 1 in my table tblTags in the SQL database.

Now we will see the output. Shall we?

We have done everything!. That’s fantastic right? Have a happy coding.

You can always use WebClient also for this requirement, that I will share in an another article.

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think is needed? Did you try Web API yet? Have you ever wanted to call a Web API from the server itself or any console application? Could you find this post useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Now we will go and create our application. I hope you will like this.

Download the source code

You can always download the source code here.

Background

For the past few days I am working with Web API.Here we are going to see a demo of how to use Caching in Web API in our MVC application. We are going to use the DLL System.Runtime.Caching.dll, which you need to add as reference.

Create a MVC application

Click File-> New-> Project then select MVC application. From the following pop up we will select the template as empty and select the core references and folders for MVC.

Empty Template With MVC And Web API Folders

Once you click OK, a project with MVC like folder structure with core references will be created for you.

Folder Structure And References For Empty MVC Project

Once your application is ready, we can add the reference for System.Runtime.Caching

Add reference for System.Runtime.Caching

To add the reference, right click on References and click Add reference.

Add_References

Now click on the browse button, and search for System.Runtime.Caching

References_Found_

And the click OK, the DLL will be added to your references now.

Using the code

We will set up our database first so that we can create Entity Model for our application later.

Create a database

The following query can be used to create a database in your SQL Server.

[sql]
USE [master]
GO

/****** Object: Database [TrialsDB]
CREATE DATABASE [TrialsDB]
CONTAINMENT = NONE
ON PRIMARY
( NAME = N’TrialsDB’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB.mdf’ , SIZE = 3072KB , MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED, FILEGROWTH = 1024KB )
LOG ON
( NAME = N’TrialsDB_log’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB_log.ldf’ , SIZE = 1024KB , MAXSIZE = 2048GB , FILEGROWTH = 10%)
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 110
GO

IF (1 = FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY(‘IsFullTextInstalled’))
begin
EXEC [TrialsDB].[dbo].[sp_fulltext_database] @action = ‘enable’
end
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULL_DEFAULT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ARITHABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_DEFAULT GLOBAL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DISABLE_BROKER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TRUSTWORTHY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PARAMETERIZATION SIMPLE
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET HONOR_BROKER_PRIORITY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECOVERY FULL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET MULTI_USER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DB_CHAINING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET FILESTREAM( NON_TRANSACTED_ACCESS = OFF )
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME = 0 SECONDS
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_WRITE
GO
[/sql]

Now we will create the table we needed. As of now I am going to create the table tblTags

Create tables in database

Below is the query to create the table tblTags.

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

/****** Object: Table [dbo].[tblTags] Script Date: 23-Mar-16 5:01:22 PM ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[tblTags](
[tagId] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[tagName] [nvarchar](50) NOT NULL,
[tagDescription] [nvarchar](max) NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_tblTags] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[tagId] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]

GO
[/sql]

Can we insert some data to the tables now?

Insert data to table

You can use the below query to insert the data to the table tblTags

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[tblTags]
([tagName]
,[tagDescription])
VALUES
(<tagName, nvarchar(50),>
,<tagDescription, nvarchar(max),>)
GO
[/sql]

Next thing we are going to do is creating a ADO.NET Entity Data Model.

Create Entity Data Model

Right click on your model folder and click new, select ADO.NET Entity Data Model. Follow the steps given. Once you have done the processes, you can see the edmx file and other files in your model folder. Here I gave Dashboard for our Entity data model name. Now you can see a file with edmx extension have been created.
Now will create our Web API controller.

Create Web API Controller

To create a Web API controller, just right click on your controller folder and click Add -> Controller -> Select Web API 2 controller with actions, using Entity Framework.

Web API 2 Controller With Actions Using Entity Framework

Now select tblTag (CachingInWebAPI.Models) as our Model class and TrialsDBEntities (CachingInWebAPI.Models) as data context class.

As you can see It has been given the name of our controller as tblTags. Here I am not going to change that, if you wish to change, you can do that.

Now you will be given the following codes in our new Web API controller.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Http.Description;
using CachingInWebAPI.Models;

namespace CachingInWebAPI.Controllers
{
public class tblTagsController : ApiController
{
private TrialsDBEntities db = new TrialsDBEntities();

// GET: api/tblTags
public IQueryable<tblTag> GettblTags()
{
return db.tblTags;
}

// GET: api/tblTags/5
[ResponseType(typeof(tblTag))]
public IHttpActionResult GettblTag(int id)
{
tblTag tblTag = db.tblTags.Find(id);
if (tblTag == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

return Ok(tblTag);
}

// PUT: api/tblTags/5
[ResponseType(typeof(void))]
public IHttpActionResult PuttblTag(int id, tblTag tblTag)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

if (id != tblTag.tagId)
{
return BadRequest();
}

db.Entry(tblTag).State = EntityState.Modified;

try
{
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbUpdateConcurrencyException)
{
if (!tblTagExists(id))
{
return NotFound();
}
else
{
throw;
}
}

return StatusCode(HttpStatusCode.NoContent);
}

// POST: api/tblTags
[ResponseType(typeof(tblTag))]
public IHttpActionResult PosttblTag(tblTag tblTag)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

db.tblTags.Add(tblTag);
db.SaveChanges();

return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = tblTag.tagId }, tblTag);
}

// DELETE: api/tblTags/5
[ResponseType(typeof(tblTag))]
public IHttpActionResult DeletetblTag(int id)
{
tblTag tblTag = db.tblTags.Find(id);
if (tblTag == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

db.tblTags.Remove(tblTag);
db.SaveChanges();

return Ok(tblTag);
}

protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing)
{
db.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}

private bool tblTagExists(int id)
{
return db.tblTags.Count(e => e.tagId == id) > 0;
}
}
}
[/csharp]

As we are not going to use only read operation, you can remove other functionalities and keep only Get methods for now.

[csharp]
// GET: api/tblTags
public IQueryable<tblTag> GettblTags()
{
return db.tblTags;
}
[/csharp]

So the coding part to fetch the data from database is ready, now we need to check whether our Web API is ready for action!. To check that, you just need to run the URL http://localhost:4832/api/tblTags. Here tblTags is our Web API controller name. I hope you get the data as a result.

Web_API_Result

Now we will start testing our caching. For that please import the namespace System.Runtime.Caching;

[csharp]
using System.Runtime.Caching;
[/csharp]

Next we will create an instance of MemoryCache class.

MemoryCache_Tooltip_

As you can see there are four possible settings we can set in MemoryCache class.

MemoryCache_Settings

Now we can add MemoryCache as follows.

[csharp]
public IQueryable<tblTag> GettblTags()
{
var ca = db.tblTags;
memCache.Add("tag", ca, DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddMinutes(5));
return db.tblTags;
}
[/csharp]

MemoryCache_Add

Here “tag” is my key and “ca” is my values and DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddMinutes(5) is for setting the cache for five minutes from now.

Shall we check how it works now? To check whether the content has been added to the cache we need to use the Get method, please see the code block below.

[csharp]
var res = memCache.Get("tag");
if (res != null)
{
return res;
}
else {
var ca = db.tblTags;
memCache.Add("tag", ca, DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.AddMinutes(5));
return db.tblTags;
}
[/csharp]

We will get the cache values in the variable res, remember this values will be there only for five minutes. You can always change that as per need. If the value is not null, we will just return it and do the manipulation and if it is null we will go ahead and fetch the data from database and add the value to cache. Now please run your API by running the URL http://localhost:4832/api/tblTags.

Cache_Value_Null

You can see that we are setting the value to memCache as the memCache.Get(“tag”) is null.

Cache_Value_Not_Null

So we just tried to load the same Web API URL within five minutes, so we gets values from memCache.Get(“tag”). Sounds good?

There is an option to remove our cache too, we will see that now. We will use the Remove function for the same. First we will check whether the key is available in the MemoryCache, if it is available we will remove that.

[csharp]
//This is to remove the MemoryCache – start
if (memCache.Contains("tag"))
{
memCache.Remove("tag");
}
//This is to remove the MemoryCache – end
[/csharp]

MemoryCache_Remove

We have done everything!. That’s fantastic right? Have a happy coding.

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Did you try Web API yet? Have you ever wanted to do caching in Web API? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Now we will go and create our application. I hope you will like this.

Download the source code

You can always download the source code here.

Background

For the past few days I am experiment few things in Angular JS. Here we are going to see a demo of how to use Angular JS autocomplete in MVC with Web API to fetch the data from database. Once we are done, this is how our applications output will be.

Angular_JS_Autocomplete_In_MVC_With_Web_API_Output_

Angular_JS_Autocomplete_In_MVC_With_Web_API_Output_With_Filter_

Create a MVC application

Click File-> New-> Project then select MVC application. From the following pop up we will select the template as empty and select the core references and folders for MVC.

Empty Template With MVC And Web API Folders

Once you click OK, a project with MVC like folder structure with core references will be created for you.

Folder Structure And References For Empty MVC Project

Before going to start the coding part, make sure that all the required extensions/references are installed. Below are the required things to start with.

You can all the items mentioned above from NuGet. Right click on your project name and select Manage NuGet packages.

Manage NuGet Package Window

Once you have installed those items, please make sure that all the items(jQuery, Angular JS files) are loaded in your scripts folder.

Using the code

As I have said before, we are going to use Angular JS for our client side operations, so it is better to create the Angular JS script files first right? Just to make sure that we have got all the required things :). For that I am going to create a script file called Home.js in which we will write our scripts. Sounds good? Yes, we have set everything to get started our coding. Now we will create a Web API controller and get the data from database in JSON format. Let’s start then.

We will set up our database first so that we can create Entity Model for our application later.

Create a database

The following query can be used to create a database in your SQL Server.

[sql]
USE [master]
GO

/****** Object: Database [TrialsDB]
CREATE DATABASE [TrialsDB]
CONTAINMENT = NONE
ON PRIMARY
( NAME = N’TrialsDB’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB.mdf’ , SIZE = 3072KB , MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED, FILEGROWTH = 1024KB )
LOG ON
( NAME = N’TrialsDB_log’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB_log.ldf’ , SIZE = 1024KB , MAXSIZE = 2048GB , FILEGROWTH = 10%)
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 110
GO

IF (1 = FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY(‘IsFullTextInstalled’))
begin
EXEC [TrialsDB].[dbo].[sp_fulltext_database] @action = ‘enable’
end
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULL_DEFAULT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ARITHABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_DEFAULT GLOBAL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DISABLE_BROKER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TRUSTWORTHY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PARAMETERIZATION SIMPLE
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET HONOR_BROKER_PRIORITY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECOVERY FULL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET MULTI_USER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DB_CHAINING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET FILESTREAM( NON_TRANSACTED_ACCESS = OFF )
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME = 0 SECONDS
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_WRITE
GO
[/sql]

Now we will create the table we needed. As of now I am going to create the table Products

Create tables in database

Below is the query to create the table Product.

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

/****** Object: Table [dbo].[Product]
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Product](
[ProductID] [int] NOT NULL,
[Name] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
[ProductNumber] [nvarchar](25) NOT NULL,
[MakeFlag] [bit] NOT NULL,
[FinishedGoodsFlag] [bit] NOT NULL,
[Color] [nvarchar](15) NULL,
[SafetyStockLevel] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[ReorderPoint] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[StandardCost] [money] NOT NULL,
[ListPrice] [money] NOT NULL,
[Size] [nvarchar](5) NULL,
[SizeUnitMeasureCode] [nchar](3) NULL,
[WeightUnitMeasureCode] [nchar](3) NULL,
[Weight] [decimal](8, 2) NULL,
[DaysToManufacture] [int] NOT NULL,
[ProductLine] [nchar](2) NULL,
[Class] [nchar](2) NULL,
[Style] [nchar](2) NULL,
[ProductSubcategoryID] [int] NULL,
[ProductModelID] [int] NULL,
[SellStartDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[SellEndDate] [datetime] NULL,
[DiscontinuedDate] [datetime] NULL,
[rowguid] [uniqueidentifier] ROWGUIDCOL NOT NULL,
[ModifiedDate] [datetime] NOT NULL
) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]

GO
[/sql]

Can we insert some data to the tables now?

Insert data to table

You can use the below query to insert the data to the table Product

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[Product]
([ProductID]
,[Name]
,[ProductNumber]
,[MakeFlag]
,[FinishedGoodsFlag]
,[Color]
,[SafetyStockLevel]
,[ReorderPoint]
,[StandardCost]
,[ListPrice]
,[Size]
,[SizeUnitMeasureCode]
,[WeightUnitMeasureCode]
,[Weight]
,[DaysToManufacture]
,[ProductLine]
,[Class]
,[Style]
,[ProductSubcategoryID]
,[ProductModelID]
,[SellStartDate]
,[SellEndDate]
,[DiscontinuedDate]
,[rowguid]
,[ModifiedDate])
VALUES
(<ProductID, int,>
,<Name, nvarchar(max),>
,<ProductNumber, nvarchar(25),>
,<MakeFlag, bit,>
,<FinishedGoodsFlag, bit,>
,<Color, nvarchar(15),>
,<SafetyStockLevel, smallint,>
,<ReorderPoint, smallint,>
,<StandardCost, money,>
,<ListPrice, money,>
,<Size, nvarchar(5),>
,<SizeUnitMeasureCode, nchar(3),>
,<WeightUnitMeasureCode, nchar(3),>
,<Weight, decimal(8,2),>
,<DaysToManufacture, int,>
,<ProductLine, nchar(2),>
,<Class, nchar(2),>
,<Style, nchar(2),>
,<ProductSubcategoryID, int,>
,<ProductModelID, int,>
,<SellStartDate, datetime,>
,<SellEndDate, datetime,>
,<DiscontinuedDate, datetime,>
,<rowguid, uniqueidentifier,>
,<ModifiedDate, datetime,>)
GO
[/sql]

So let us say, we have inserted the data as follows. If you feel bored of inserting data manually, you can always run the SQL script file attached which has the insertion queries. Just run that, you will be all OK. If you don’t know how to generate SQL scripts with data, I strongly recommend you to have a read here

Next thing we are going to do is creating a ADO.NET Entity Data Model.

Create Entity Data Model

Right click on your model folder and click new, select ADO.NET Entity Data Model. Follow the steps given. Once you have done the processes, you can see the edmx file and other files in your model folder. Here I gave Dashboard for our Entity data model name. Now you can see a file with edmx extension have been created. If you open that file, you can see as below.

Entity Data Model Product Table

Now will create our Web API controller.

Create Web API Controller

To create a Web API controller, just right click on your controller folder and click Add -> Controller -> Select Web API 2 controller with actions, using Entity Framework.

Web API 2 Controller With Actions Using Entity Framework

Now select Product (AngularJSAutocompleteInMVCWithWebAPI.Models) as our Model class and TrialsDBEntities (AngularJSAutocompleteInMVCWithWebAPI.Models) as data context class.

Model Class And Data Context Class

As you can see It has been given the name of our controller as Products. Here I am not going to change that, if you wish to change, you can do that.

Now you will be given the following codes in our new Web API controller.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Http.Description;
using AngularJSAutocompleteInMVCWithWebAPI.Models;

namespace AngularJSAutocompleteInMVCWithWebAPI.Controllers
{
public class ProductsController : ApiController
{
private TrialsDBEntities db = new TrialsDBEntities();

// GET: api/Products
public IQueryable<Product> GetProducts()
{
return db.Products;
}

// GET: api/Products/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult GetProduct(int id)
{
Product product = db.Products.Find(id);
if (product == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

return Ok(product);
}

// PUT: api/Products/5
[ResponseType(typeof(void))]
public IHttpActionResult PutProduct(int id, Product product)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

if (id != product.ProductID)
{
return BadRequest();
}

db.Entry(product).State = EntityState.Modified;

try
{
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbUpdateConcurrencyException)
{
if (!ProductExists(id))
{
return NotFound();
}
else
{
throw;
}
}

return StatusCode(HttpStatusCode.NoContent);
}

// POST: api/Products
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult PostProduct(Product product)
{
if (!ModelState.IsValid)
{
return BadRequest(ModelState);
}

db.Products.Add(product);

try
{
db.SaveChanges();
}
catch (DbUpdateException)
{
if (ProductExists(product.ProductID))
{
return Conflict();
}
else
{
throw;
}
}

return CreatedAtRoute("DefaultApi", new { id = product.ProductID }, product);
}

// DELETE: api/Products/5
[ResponseType(typeof(Product))]
public IHttpActionResult DeleteProduct(int id)
{
Product product = db.Products.Find(id);
if (product == null)
{
return NotFound();
}

db.Products.Remove(product);
db.SaveChanges();

return Ok(product);
}

protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing)
{
db.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}

private bool ProductExists(int id)
{
return db.Products.Count(e => e.ProductID == id) > 0;
}
}
}
[/csharp]

As we are not going to use only read operation, you can remove other functionalities and keep only Get methods.

[csharp]
// GET: api/Products
public IQueryable<Product> GetProducts()
{
return db.Products;
}
[/csharp]

So the coding part to fetch the data from database is ready, now we need to check whether our Web API is ready for action!. To check that, you just need to run the URL http://localhost:9038/api/products. Here products is our Web API controller name. I hope you get the data as a result.

Web API Result

Now we will go back to our angular JS file and consume this Web API. You need to change the scripts in the Home.js as follows.

[js]
(function () {
‘use strict’;
angular
.module(‘MyApp’, [‘ngMaterial’, ‘ngMessages’, ‘material.svgAssetsCache’])
.controller(‘AutoCompleteCtrl’, AutoCompleteCtrl);
function AutoCompleteCtrl($http, $timeout, $q, $log) {
var self = this;
self.simulateQuery = true;
self.products = loadAllProducts($http);
self.querySearch = querySearch;
function querySearch(query) {
var results = query ? self.products.filter(createFilterFor(query)) : self.products, deferred;
if (self.simulateQuery) {
deferred = $q.defer();
$timeout(function () { deferred.resolve(results); }, Math.random() * 1000, false);
return deferred.promise;
} else {
return results;
}
}
function loadAllProducts($http) {
var allProducts = [];
var url = ”;
var result = [];
url = ‘api/products’;
$http({
method: ‘GET’,
url: url,
}).then(function successCallback(response) {
allProducts = response.data;
angular.forEach(allProducts, function (product, key) {
result.push(
{
value: product.Name.toLowerCase(),
display: product.Name
});
});
}, function errorCallback(response) {
console.log(‘Oops! Something went wrong while fetching the data. Status Code: ‘ + response.status + ‘ Status statusText: ‘ + response.statusText);
});
return result;
}
function createFilterFor(query) {
var lowercaseQuery = angular.lowercase(query);
return function filterFn(product) {
return (product.value.indexOf(lowercaseQuery) === 0);
};

}
}
})();
[/js]

Here MyApp is our module name and AutoCompleteCtrl is our controller name. The function loadAllProducts is for loading the products from database using $http in Angular JS.

Once our service is called, we will get the data in return. We will parse the same and store it in a variable for future use. We will loop through the same using angular.forEach and format as needed.

[js]
angular.forEach(allProducts, function (product, key) {
result.push(
{
value: product.Name.toLowerCase(),
display: product.Name
});
});
[/js]

The function querySearch will be called when ever user search for any particular products. This we will call from the view as follows.

[html]
md-items="item in ctrl.querySearch(ctrl.searchText)"
[/html]

Now we need a view to show our data right? Yes, we need a controller too!.

Create a MVC controller

To create a controller, we need to right click on the controller folder, Add – Controller. I hope you will be given a controller as follows.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace AngularJSAutocompleteInMVCWithWebAPI.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{
// GET: Home
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
}
}
[/csharp]

Here Home is our controller name.

Now we need a view right?

Creating a view

To create a view, just right click on your controller name -> Add View -> Add.

Creating a view

Now in your view add the needed references.

[html]
<script src="~/scripts/angular.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-route.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-aria.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-animate.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-messages.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-material.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/svg-assets-cache.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/Home.js"></script>
[/html]

Once we add the references, we can call our Angular JS controller and change the view code as follows.

[html]
<div ng-controller="AutoCompleteCtrl as ctrl" layout="column" ng-cloak="" class="autocompletedemoBasicUsage" ng-app="MyApp" style="width: 34%;">
<md-content class="md-padding">
<form ng-submit="$event.preventDefault()">
<md-autocomplete md-no-cache="false" md-selected-item="ctrl.selectedItem" md-search-text="ctrl.searchText" md-items="item in ctrl.querySearch(ctrl.searchText)" md-item-text="item.display" md-min-length="0" placeholder="Search for products here!.">
<md-item-template>
<span md-highlight-text="ctrl.searchText" md-highlight-flags="^i">{{item.display}}</span>
</md-item-template>
<md-not-found>
No matching "{{ctrl.searchText}}" were found.
</md-not-found>
</md-autocomplete>
</form>
</md-content>
</div>
[/html]

Here md-autocomplete will cache the result we gets from database to avoid the unwanted hits to the database. This we can disable/enable by the help of md-no-cache. Now if you run your application, you can see our Web API call works fine and successfully get the data. But the page looks clumsy right? For this you must add a style sheet angular-material.css.

[html]
<link href="~/Content/angular-material.css" rel="stylesheet" />
[/html]

Now run your page again, I am sure you will get the output as follows.

Output

Angular_JS_Autocomplete_In_MVC_With_Web_API_Output_

Angular_JS_Autocomplete_In_MVC_With_Web_API_Output_With_Filter_

We have done everything!. That’s fantastic right? Have a happy coding.

Reference

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Did you try Web API yet? Have you ever wanted to do this requirement? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Now we will go and create our application. I hope you will like this.

Download the source code

You can always download the source code here.

Background

I am working now in a personal dashboard application in which I uses HighChart products for the chart integration. We can always load the chart widgets with server side data and Angular JS right? Here we will discuss that. We are going to create the preceding charts for our dashboard.

Once we are done, this is how our applications output will be.

Chart Widgets With Server Side Data In MVC Using Angular JS And Web API Output

Create a MVC application

Click File-> New-> Project then select MVC application. From the following pop up we will select the template as empty and select the core references and folders for MVC.

MVC Project With Empty Template

Once you click OK, a project with MVC like folder structure with core references will be created for you.

Folder Structure And References For Empty MVC Project

Before going to start the coding part, make sure that all the required extensions/references are installed. Below are the required things to start with.

You can all the items mentioned above from NuGet. Right click on your project name and select Manage NuGet packages.

Manage NuGet Package Window

Once you have installed those items, please make sure that all the items(jQuery, Angular JS files) are loaded in your scripts folder.

Using the code

As I have said before, we are going to use Angular JS for our client side operations, so it is better to create the Angular JS script files first right? Just to make sure that we have got all the required things :). For that, create a folder named Widget in script folder and right click -> Add -> New Item -> Select AngularJS Module and enter the module name -> Click Add.

Creating Angular JS Modue In MVC Application

Follow the same procedure to create Angular JS factory and Angular JS controller. Yes, we have set everything to get started our coding. Now we will create a Web API controller and get the data from database in JSON format. Let’s start then.

Create Web API Controller

To create a Web API controller, just right click on your controller folder and click Add -> Controller -> Select Web API controller – Empty ( We will create our own actions later) -> Name the controller (Here I am giving the controller name as Widget).

So our controller is ready, now we need to set up our database so that we can create Entity Model for our application later.

Create a database

The following query can be used to create a database in your SQL Server.

[sql]
USE [master]
GO

/****** Object: Database [TrialsDB] Script Date: 16-Mar-16 4:08:15 PM ******/
CREATE DATABASE [TrialsDB]
CONTAINMENT = NONE
ON PRIMARY
( NAME = N’TrialsDB’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB.mdf’ , SIZE = 3072KB , MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED, FILEGROWTH = 1024KB )
LOG ON
( NAME = N’TrialsDB_log’, FILENAME = N’C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\DATA\TrialsDB_log.ldf’ , SIZE = 1024KB , MAXSIZE = 2048GB , FILEGROWTH = 10%)
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 110
GO

IF (1 = FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY(‘IsFullTextInstalled’))
begin
EXEC [TrialsDB].[dbo].[sp_fulltext_database] @action = ‘enable’
end
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULL_DEFAULT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ANSI_WARNINGS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ARITHABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CLOSE OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_SHRINK OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS ON
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_CLOSE_ON_COMMIT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CURSOR_DEFAULT GLOBAL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET NUMERIC_ROUNDABORT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECURSIVE_TRIGGERS OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DISABLE_BROKER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET AUTO_UPDATE_STATISTICS_ASYNC OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DATE_CORRELATION_OPTIMIZATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TRUSTWORTHY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET ALLOW_SNAPSHOT_ISOLATION OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PARAMETERIZATION SIMPLE
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET HONOR_BROKER_PRIORITY OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET RECOVERY FULL
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET MULTI_USER
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET PAGE_VERIFY CHECKSUM
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET DB_CHAINING OFF
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET FILESTREAM( NON_TRANSACTED_ACCESS = OFF )
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET TARGET_RECOVERY_TIME = 0 SECONDS
GO

ALTER DATABASE [TrialsDB] SET READ_WRITE
GO
[/sql]

Now we will create the tables we needed. As of now I am going to create two tables.

These tables are having relationship by the key ProductID.

Create tables in database

Below is the query to create SalesOrderDetail table in database.

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

/****** Object: Table [dbo].[SalesOrderDetail] Script Date: 16-Mar-16 4:10:22 PM ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[SalesOrderDetail](
[SalesOrderID] [int] NOT NULL,
[SalesOrderDetailID] [int] IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[CarrierTrackingNumber] [nvarchar](25) NULL,
[OrderQty] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[ProductID] [int] NOT NULL,
[SpecialOfferID] [int] NOT NULL,
[UnitPrice] [money] NOT NULL,
[UnitPriceDiscount] [money] NOT NULL,
[LineTotal] AS (isnull(([UnitPrice]*((1.0)-[UnitPriceDiscount]))*[OrderQty],(0.0))),
[rowguid] [uniqueidentifier] ROWGUIDCOL NOT NULL,
[ModifiedDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT [PK_SalesOrderDetail_SalesOrderID_SalesOrderDetailID] PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED
(
[SalesOrderID] ASC,
[SalesOrderDetailID] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS = ON, ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

GO
[/sql]

Now we will create the table Product.

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

/****** Object: Table [dbo].[Product] Script Date: 16-Mar-16 4:11:29 PM ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Product](
[ProductID] [int] NOT NULL,
[Name] [nvarchar](max) NOT NULL,
[ProductNumber] [nvarchar](25) NOT NULL,
[MakeFlag] [bit] NOT NULL,
[FinishedGoodsFlag] [bit] NOT NULL,
[Color] [nvarchar](15) NULL,
[SafetyStockLevel] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[ReorderPoint] [smallint] NOT NULL,
[StandardCost] [money] NOT NULL,
[ListPrice] [money] NOT NULL,
[Size] [nvarchar](5) NULL,
[SizeUnitMeasureCode] [nchar](3) NULL,
[WeightUnitMeasureCode] [nchar](3) NULL,
[Weight] [decimal](8, 2) NULL,
[DaysToManufacture] [int] NOT NULL,
[ProductLine] [nchar](2) NULL,
[Class] [nchar](2) NULL,
[Style] [nchar](2) NULL,
[ProductSubcategoryID] [int] NULL,
[ProductModelID] [int] NULL,
[SellStartDate] [datetime] NOT NULL,
[SellEndDate] [datetime] NULL,
[DiscontinuedDate] [datetime] NULL,
[rowguid] [uniqueidentifier] ROWGUIDCOL NOT NULL,
[ModifiedDate] [datetime] NOT NULL
) ON [PRIMARY] TEXTIMAGE_ON [PRIMARY]

GO
[/sql]

Can we insert some data to the tables now?

Insert data to table

You can use the below query to insert the data to SalesOrderDetail.

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[SalesOrderDetail]
([SalesOrderID]
,[CarrierTrackingNumber]
,[OrderQty]
,[ProductID]
,[SpecialOfferID]
,[UnitPrice]
,[UnitPriceDiscount]
,[rowguid]
,[ModifiedDate])
VALUES
(<SalesOrderID, int,>
,<CarrierTrackingNumber, nvarchar(25),>
,<OrderQty, smallint,>
,<ProductID, int,>
,<SpecialOfferID, int,>
,<UnitPrice, money,>
,<UnitPriceDiscount, money,>
,<rowguid, uniqueidentifier,>
,<ModifiedDate, datetime,>)
GO
[/sql]

and the following query can be used for the table Product

[sql]
USE [TrialsDB]
GO

INSERT INTO [dbo].[Product]
([ProductID]
,[Name]
,[ProductNumber]
,[MakeFlag]
,[FinishedGoodsFlag]
,[Color]
,[SafetyStockLevel]
,[ReorderPoint]
,[StandardCost]
,[ListPrice]
,[Size]
,[SizeUnitMeasureCode]
,[WeightUnitMeasureCode]
,[Weight]
,[DaysToManufacture]
,[ProductLine]
,[Class]
,[Style]
,[ProductSubcategoryID]
,[ProductModelID]
,[SellStartDate]
,[SellEndDate]
,[DiscontinuedDate]
,[rowguid]
,[ModifiedDate])
VALUES
(<ProductID, int,>
,<Name, nvarchar(max),>
,<ProductNumber, nvarchar(25),>
,<MakeFlag, bit,>
,<FinishedGoodsFlag, bit,>
,<Color, nvarchar(15),>
,<SafetyStockLevel, smallint,>
,<ReorderPoint, smallint,>
,<StandardCost, money,>
,<ListPrice, money,>
,<Size, nvarchar(5),>
,<SizeUnitMeasureCode, nchar(3),>
,<WeightUnitMeasureCode, nchar(3),>
,<Weight, decimal(8,2),>
,<DaysToManufacture, int,>
,<ProductLine, nchar(2),>
,<Class, nchar(2),>
,<Style, nchar(2),>
,<ProductSubcategoryID, int,>
,<ProductModelID, int,>
,<SellStartDate, datetime,>
,<SellEndDate, datetime,>
,<DiscontinuedDate, datetime,>
,<rowguid, uniqueidentifier,>
,<ModifiedDate, datetime,>)
GO
[/sql]

So let us say, we have inserted the data as follows. If you feel bored of inserting data manually, you can always tun the SQL script file attached which has the insertion queries. Just run that, you will be all OK. If you don’t know how to generate SQL scripts with data, I strongly recommend you to have a read here

Next thing we are going to do is creating a ADO.NET Entity Data Model.

Create Entity Data Model

Right click on your model folder and click new, select ADO.NET Entity Data Model. Follow the steps given. Once you have done the processes, you can see the edmx file and other files in your model folder. Here I gave Dashboard for our Entity data model name. Now you can see a file with edmx extension have been created. If you open that file, you can see as below.

Entity Data Model

Now go back our Web API controller. Please change the code as below.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web.Http;
using MyDashboard.Models;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
namespace MyDashboard.Controllers
{
public class WidgetController : ApiController
{
public DashboardEntities de = new DashboardEntities();
Retriever ret = new Retriever();
public string getWidgetData()
{
var dataList = ret.GetWidgetData(de);
return dataList;
}
}
}
[/csharp]

Here we have created a new model class Retriever and we have added a method GetWidgetData in that class. Now let us see what I have coded in that.

[csharp]
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace MyDashboard.Models
{
public class Retriever
{
public string GetWidgetData(DashboardEntities de)
{
try
{
using (de)
{
var resList = (from sales in de.SalesOrderDetails
join prod in de.Products
on sales.ProductID equals prod.ProductID
select new
{
ProductName = prod.Name,
QuantityOrdered = sales.OrderQty
});
var res = resList.GroupBy(d => d.ProductName).Select(g => new
{
name = g.FirstOrDefault().ProductName,
y = g.Sum(s => s.QuantityOrdered)
});
return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(res, Formatting.None, new JsonSerializerSettings()
{
ReferenceLoopHandling = ReferenceLoopHandling.Ignore
});
}
}
catch (Exception)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}

}
}
}
[/csharp]

Here we are using LINQ to fetch the data, We uses JOIN in the query to find the Name from the table Products. Once the data is ready, we are just do group by the column ProductName and sum of QuantityOrdered.

[csharp]
var res = resList.GroupBy(d => d.ProductName).Select(g => new
{
name = g.FirstOrDefault().ProductName,
y = g.Sum(s => s.QuantityOrdered)
});
[/csharp]

So the coding part to fetch the data from database is read, now we need to check whether our Web API is ready for action!. To check that, you just need to run the URL http://localhost:1646/Api/Widget. Here Widget is our Web API controller name. I hope you get the data as a result. If you are getting the error Server Error in ‘/’ Application The resource cannot be found, you need to configure your Web API in Global.asax.cs. You got this error just because you created an Empty project with only needed references. So here we need to do his step by our own. No worries, we will do it now. Just change the Global.asax.cs as follows.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using System.Web.Routing;

namespace MyDashboard
{
public class MvcApplication : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
protected void Application_Start()
{
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register);//This is for setting the configuration
RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}
}
}
[/csharp]

Now build your application and run the same URL again, you will get the output as follows.

Web API Output

Now we will go back to our angular JS files and consume this Web API. You need to change the scripts in the app.js, controller.js, factory.js as follows.

app.js

[js]
(function () {
‘use strict’;
angular.module(‘WidgetsApp’, []);
})();
[/js]

controller.js

[js]
(function () {
‘use strict’;
angular
.module(‘WidgetsApp’)
.controller(‘WidgetsController’, function ($scope, factory) {
var res = factory.getData();
var options;
if (res != undefined) {
res.then(function (d) {
var data = JSON.parse(d.data);

}, function (error) {
console.log(‘Oops! Something went wrong while fetching the data.’);
});
}
});
})();

[/js]

Once our service is called, we will get the data in return. We will parse the same and store it in a variable for future use.

[js]
var data = JSON.parse(d.data);
[/js]

factory.js

[js]
(function () {
‘use strict’;
angular
.module(‘WidgetsApp’)
.service(‘factory’, function ($http) {
this.getData = function () {
var url = ‘Api/Widget’;
return $http({
type: ‘get’,
url: url
});
}
});
})();
[/js]

AS you can see we are just calling our Web API Api/Widget with the help of Angular $http.

Now we a view to show our data right? Yes, we need a controller too!.

Create a MVC controller

To create a controller, we need to right click on the controller folder, Add – Controller. I hope you will be given a controller as follows.

[csharp]
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace MyDashboard.Controllers
{
public class HomeController : Controller
{
// GET: Home
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
}
}
[/csharp]

Here Home is our controller name.

Now we need a view right?

Creating a view

To create a view, just right click on your controller name -> Add View -> Add.

Creating a view

Now in your view add the needed references.

[html]
<script src="~/scripts/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/jquery-ui-1.11.4.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-aria.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/angular-route.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/Widgets/app.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/Widgets/controller.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/Widgets/factory.js"></script>
[/html]

Once we add the references, we can call our Angular JS controller as follows.

[html]
<div ng-app="WidgetsApp">
<div ng-controller="WidgetsController">
</div>
</div>
[/html]

Now if you run your application, you can see our Web API call works fine and successfully get the data. Next thing we need to do is creating charts with the data we get.

Create chart widgets with the data

As I said, we are going to to create HighChart chart widgets, we need to add a reference to use that plug in.

[html]
<script src="https://code.highcharts.com/highcharts.js"></script>
[/html]

Now create elements where we can load our chart.

[html]
<div ng-app="WidgetsApp">
<div ng-controller="WidgetsController">
<div id="widgetPie" class="widget">Placeholder for chart</div>
<div id="widgetspline" class="widget">Placeholder for chart</div>
<div id="widgetBar" class="widget">Placeholder for chart</div>
<div id="widgetLine" class="widget">Placeholder for chart</div>
<div id="widgetScatter" class="widget">Placeholder for chart</div>
<div id="widgetColumn" class="widget">Placeholder for chart</div>
</div>
</div>
[/html]

You can style your elements as follows if you want, but this is optional.

[css]
<style>
.widget {
width: 30%;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 10px;
margin: 5px;
border-radius: 3px;
transition: none;
-webkit-transition: none;
-moz-transition: none;
-o-transition: none;
cursor: move;
display: inline-block;
float:left;
}
</style>
[/css]

Go back to our Angular JS controller and add the below codes right after we get the data from server.

Pie Chart

[js]
var data = JSON.parse(d.data);
var categories = [];
for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
categories.push(data[i].name)
}
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetPie’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘pie’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Pie Chart’
},
plotOptions: {
pie: {
allowPointSelect: true,
cursor: ‘pointer’,
dataLabels: {
enabled: false,
format: ‘<b>{point.name}</b>: {point.y:,.0f}’
}
}
},
series: [{
name:’Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
[/js]

Now run your application, you can see a pie chart with the data given.

Pie Chart In MVC With Angular JS And Web API

Column Chart

[js]
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetColumn’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘column’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Column Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
[/js]

Now run your application, you can see a column chart with the data given.

Column Chart In MVC With Angular JS And Web API

Bar Chart

[js]
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetBar’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘bar’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Bar Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
[/js]

Now run your application, you can see a Bar chart with the data given.

Bar Chart In MVC With Angular JS And Web API

Line Chart

[js]
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetLine’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘line’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Line Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
[/js]

Now run your application, you can see a Line chart with the data given.

Line Chart In MVC With Angular JS And Web API

Spline Chart

[js]
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetspline’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘spline’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Spline Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
[/js]

Now run your application, you can see a Spline chart with the data given.

Spline Chart In MVC With Angular JS And Web API

Scatter Chart

[js]
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetScatter’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘scatter’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Scatter Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
[/js]

Now run your application, you can see a Scatter chart with the data given.

Scatter Chart In MVC With Angular JS And Web API

Now this is how complete code for our controller.js file looks like.

[js]
(function () {
‘use strict’;
angular
.module(‘WidgetsApp’)
.controller(‘WidgetsController’, function ($scope, factory) {
var res = factory.getData();
var options;
if (res != undefined) {
res.then(function (d) {
var data = JSON.parse(d.data);
var categories = [];
for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
categories.push(data[i].name)
}
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetPie’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘pie’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Pie Chart’
},
plotOptions: {
pie: {
allowPointSelect: true,
cursor: ‘pointer’,
dataLabels: {
enabled: false,
format: ‘<b>{point.name}</b>: {point.y:,.0f}’
}
}
},
series: [{
name:’Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetColumn’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘column’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Column Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetBar’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘bar’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Bar Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetLine’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘line’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Line Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetspline’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘spline’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Spline Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
options = new Highcharts.chart(‘widgetScatter’, {
credits: {
enabled: false
},
chart: {
type: ‘scatter’,
renderTo: ”
},
title: {
text: ‘Product VS Quantity – Scatter Chart’
},
series: [{
name: ‘Quantity’,
data: data
}]
});
}, function (error) {
console.log(‘Oops! Something went wrong while fetching the data.’);
});
}
});
})();
[/js]

If you have configured all the chart types, we can see the output now 🙂

We have done everything!. That’s fantastic right? Have a happy coding.

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Did you try Web API yet? Have you ever wanted to do this requirement? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu

Download the source code

You can always download the source code here:

Background

As you are aware most websites accepts only .zip or any other zipped formats, this is for ensuring that only less amount of data is being uploaded to the server. We can reduce almost 60 percentage of the size if we zipped the same. Now the problem is, how you can validate any zipped item which is uploaded to your site? How can you check for any particular file in that zipped item? For example if you need to find out any files with extension of .sql, .ico or .txt? What if you want to intimate user that the uploaded items does not have any particular file that must be needed? You need to loop through the contents available in it right? This is what we are going to discuss in this post. I had a situation of uploading my old back ups of my personal website (http://sibeeshpassion.com/) and after uploading I wanted to check whether the uploaded .zip file has .ico file in it. The process we are going to do is listed below.

Using the code

Now we will move into the coding part. I hope your MVC application is ready for action 🙂 with all the needed packages.

Create a controller

Now we will create a controller, view with an action in it as follows.

[csharp]
public ActionResult Index()
{
return View();
}
[/csharp]

Update the view

Now in the view, we will add a file upload and other needed elements.

[html]
<input type="file" name="FileUpload1" id="fileUpload" placeholder="Please select the file" /><br />
<input id="btnUploadFile" type="button" value="Upload File" />
<div id="message"></div>
[/html]

Add the JS references

Add the references as follows.

[html]
<script src="~/scripts/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/scripts/MyScript.js"></script>
[/html]

Here MyScript.js is where we are going to write some scripts.

Style the elements (Optional)

You can style your view as follows. This step is absolutely optional, for me the view should not as simple as default one. And to be frank I am not a good designer 🙂

[css]
<style>
#fileUpload {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 10px;
border-radius: 5px;
font-size: 14px;
font-family: cursive;
color: blue;
}

#btnUploadFile {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 10px;
border-radius: 5px;
font-size: 14px;
font-family: cursive;
color: blue;
}

#message {
border-radius: 5px;
font-size: 14px;
font-family: cursive;
color: blue;
margin-top: 15px;
}
h2 {
border-radius: 5px;
font-size: 20px;
font-family: cursive;
color: blue;
margin-top: 15px;
}
</style>
[/css]

Add the upload action in script

Now it is time to create upload action. For that, please go to the script file MyScript.js and do the coding as follows.

[js]
$(document).ready(function () {
$(‘#btnUploadFile’).on(‘click’, function () {
var data = new FormData();
var files = $("#fileUpload").get(0).files;
// Add the uploaded image content to the form data collection
if (files.length > 0) {
data.append("UploadedImage", files[0]);
}
// Make Ajax request with the contentType = false, and procesDate = false
var ajaxRequest = $.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "Home/Upload",
contentType: false,
processData: false,
data: data,
success: function (data) {
$(‘#message’).html(data);
},
error: function (e)
{
console.log(‘Oops, Something went wrong!.’ + e.message);
}
});
ajaxRequest.done(function (xhr, textStatus) {
// Do other operation
});
});
});
[/js]

If you are not aware of uploading and downloading in MVC, I strongly recommend you to have a look here: Uploading and Downloading in MVC Step-by-Step.

So we have set Home/Upload as the URL action in our Ajax function right? So we are going to create that action. Go to your controller and create a JsonResult action as follows.

[csharp]
public JsonResult Upload()
{
string isValid = checkIsValid(Request.Files);
return Json(isValid, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
[/csharp]

So we have done that too, now stop for a while. To work with ZipArchive class you must include the namespace as listed below.

[csharp]
using System.IO.Compression;
[/csharp]

Now you will be shown an error as “Are you missing an assembly reference?”. Yes we are. We have not added that references right? So now we are going to add the references for System.IO.Compression and System.IO.Compression.FileSystem.

Right click on Reference in your project and browse for the references. If you uses Visual Studio 2015, the references will be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.NETFramework\v4.6.

Please be noted that the folder names will differs according to your framework version

Compression_References

Now we will go back to our controller and write the codes for the function checkIsValid(Request.Files)

[csharp]
private string checkIsValid(HttpFileCollectionBase files)
{
string isValid = string.Empty;
try
{
foreach (string upload in Request.Files)
{
if (Request.Files[upload].ContentType == "application/octet-stream") //Content type for .zip is application/octet-stream
{
if (Request.Files[upload].FileName != "")
{
string path = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "/ App_Data / uploads /";
if (!Directory.Exists(path))
{
// Try to create the directory.
DirectoryInfo di = Directory.CreateDirectory(path);
}

string filename = Path.GetFileName(Request.Files[upload].FileName);
string pth = Path.Combine(path, filename);
Request.Files[upload].SaveAs(pth);
isValid = CheckForTheIcon(pth);
}
}
else
{
isValid = "Only .zip files are accepted.";
}
}
return isValid;
}
catch (Exception)
{
return "Oops!. Something went wrong";
}
}
[/csharp]

As you can see we are looping through the HttpFileCollectionBase files and checks for the content type first.

Please be noted that the content type for the .zip file is application/octet-stream

Once the checking is done, we will save the files to a folder, we will send the path to the function CheckForTheIcon(pth). So our next thing we need to do is to create the function CheckForTheIcon().

[csharp]
private string CheckForTheIcon(string strPath)
{
string result = string.Empty;
try
{
using (ZipArchive za = ZipFile.OpenRead(strPath))
{
foreach (ZipArchiveEntry zaItem in za.Entries)
{
if (zaItem.FullName.EndsWith(".ico", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
{
result = "Success";
}
else
{
result = "No ico files has been found";
}
}
}
return result;
}
catch (Exception)
{
result = "Oops!. Something went wrong";
return result;
}
}
[/csharp]

As you can see we are looping through each ZipArchive class items and checks for the ‘.ico’ file in it. So if there is no error and there is ‘.ico’ file in the uploaded item zip item, you will get the message as “Success: or if it does not contain the ‘.ico’ file, you will get the message as “No ico files has been found”.

Now it is time to see our output. Please run your application.

Output

If_you_try_to_upload_not_zipped_item

If_you_try_to_upload_zipped_item_which_does_not_have_ico_file

If_you_try_to_upload_zipped_item_which_have_ico_file

Conclusion

Did I miss anything that you may think which is needed? Have you ever wanted to do this requirement? Could you find this post as useful? I hope you liked this article. Please share me your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Your turn. What do you think?

A blog isn’t a blog without comments, but do try to stay on topic. If you have a question unrelated to this post, you’re better off posting it on C# Corner, Code Project, Stack Overflow, Asp.Net Forum instead of commenting here. Tweet or email me a link to your question there and I’ll definitely try to help if I can.

Kindest Regards
Sibeesh Venu