Web API in MVC solution in separate project

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Unfortunately you are wrong about that – I am presuming that I can share all my attributes etc between web api and mvc controllers so on the face it, it does not seem a massive change for me.

Many of the concepts used by Web API and MVC, even though similar at first glance, are actually not compatible. For example, Web API attributes are System.Web.Http.Filters.Filter and MVC attributes are System.Web.Mvc.Filter – and they are not interchangeable.

Same applies to many other concepts – model binding (completely different mechanisms), routes (Web API uses HTTPRoutes not Routes, even though they both operate on the same underlying RouteTable), dependency resolver (not compatible) and more – even though similar on the surface, are very different in practice. Moreover, Web API does not have a concept of areas.

Ultimately, if all you are trying to do achieve is to have a “new, trendy” way of serving up JSON content – think twice before going down that path. I certainly wouldn’t recommend refactoring any existing code unless you are really looking into embracing HTTP and building your app in a RESTful way.

It all really depends on what you are building. If you are starting a new project, and all you need is to serve up some JSON to facilitate your web app – provided you willing to live with some potentially duplicate code (like the stuff I mentioned above), Web API could easily be hosted within the same project as ASP.NET MVC.

I would only separate Web API into a separate project if you are going to build a proper API for your online service – perhaps to be consumed by external customers, or by various devices – such as fueling your mobile apps.

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