HRNUG :: December 2012 :: Using ASP.NET 4.0 Web API/RavenDB to build a RESTful App

The rise of mobile has led to a wide range of devices where it is increasingly important for application developers to support a variety of platforms, such as iPhone, Android phones, Windows 8 phones, iPads, Android tablets, and Windows 8 tablets. Utilizing a RESTful HTTP API allows the application functionality to be consistently used across the different platforms. WS-* web services, such as WCF, based on the Web Service standards have been used to connect the backend of web applications to other services, but are not well supported on the new mobile clients, because of the complexity and large payload. Microsoft has created the Web API framework as part of ASP.NET 4.0 so that .NET developers can provide RESTful APIs for their applications. I will discuss how ASP.NET 4.0 Web API can be used to provide an API for client applications and how the RavenDB database can be used on the backend of the application.