Sitecore and WebApi

So you have some legacy WebApi code that needs to run in your Sitecore solution? Or are just just a WebApi expert and need to use your favorite tool in the toolbox? Fear not, WebApi will run fine in your Sitecore solution.

You don’t need to use the native Sitecore 8.2 support for WebApi, you can use your own routes as well, and implement your nasty controller selectors, formatters and message handlers.

The API routes can be registered as a processor in the /sitecore/pipelines/initialize pipeline:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <sitecore>
    <pipelines>
      <initialize>
        <processor type="MyProject.RegisterApiRoutes, MyDll" />
      </initialize>
    </pipelines>
  </sitecore>
</configuration>

Please be aware, that Sitecore have taken the /api/sitecore and the /api/rest/ routes for it’s own code already, so use another route and you will avoid clashes with the Sitecore API.

This is my sample route registering, using the /myapi/ route instead of /api/:

using System.Web.Http;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using Sitecore.Pipelines;

namespace MyProject
{
  public class RegisterApiRoutes
  {
    public void Process(PipelineArgs args)
    {
      HttpConfiguration config = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration;

      SetRoutes(config);
      SetSerializerSettings(config);
    }

    private void SetRoutes(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
      config.routes.MapHttpRoute("Features", "myapi/features", new { action = "Get", controller = "Feature" });
      config.routes.MapHttpRoute("Default route", "myapi/{controller}", new { action = "Get" });
    }

    private void SetSerializerSettings(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
      JsonSerializerSettings settings = new JsonSerializerSettings { ContractResolver = new DefaultContractResolver() };
      config.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings = settings;
      config.Formatters.Remove(config.Formatters.XmlFormatter);
      config.EnsureInitialized();
    }
  }
}

And I can implement my “Features” controller:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Web.Http;

namespace Myproject
{
  public class FeatureController : ApiController
  {
    public dynamic Get()
    {
      return "hello world";
    }
  }
}

MORE TO READ:

• WebAPI 2 native support in Sitecore 8.2 from SitecoreCommerce
• Implementing a WebApi service using ServicesApiController in Sitecore 8 by Anders Laub
• Sitecore WebAPI: ServicesApiController and JWT Token Security by Boris Brodsky