CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.net-mvcasp.net-web-api
phil_rawlings
phil_rawlings

Reputation: 1263

MVC and Web API controllers: Same routes, different content

Is it possible to host MVC and Web API controllers using the same routes but serving different content?

What I would like is for the correct controller to be selected based on the content type in the Accept header of the request.

For example:

GET /users/1 [Accept: text/html] would invoke an MVC Response.
GET /users/1 [Accept: application/json] would invoke a Web API response.

I realise that it is possible to render Razor views and return HTML directly from Web API, but then I wouldn't be able to use the MVC goodness for rendering my main site (unless someone tells me that you can do everything in Web API that MVC can do!)

related (but not the same) question: ASP.NET MVC 4 ApiController and Normal Controller Routes

Upvotes: 2

Views: 949

Answers (1)

Anthony Shaw
Anthony Shaw

Reputation: 8166

As you have your question posted and out of the box, no.

You could do some goodness in an HttpHandler or HttpModule to detect the requested datatype and redirect your request to your WebAPI project.

Or, you could define your routes and have your WebAPI project accept requests that have a .json or even .xml extention and make your API requests appropriately based on your routes

routes.MapRoute("Default", "{controller}/{action}/{id}.json", new { controller = "Home", action = "Index" });

EDIT 1: If you need to handle multiple content types you could define your routes like below and handle the content type in your controller action

routes.MapRoute("Default", "{controller}/{action}/{id}.{contentType}", new { controller = "Home", action = "Index" });

Upvotes: 3

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