Book excerpt: Practical ASP.NET Web API provides you with a hands-on and code-focused demonstration of the ASP.NET Web API in action. From the very beginning, you'll be writing working code in order to see best practices and concepts in action. As the book progresses, the concepts and code will become more sophisticated. Beginning with an overview of the web service model in general and Web API in particular, you'll progress quickly to a detailed exploration of the request binding and response formatting that lie at the heart of Web API. You'll investigate various scenarios and see how they can be manipulated to achieve the results you need. Later in the book more sophisticated themes will be introduced that will set your applications apart from the crowd. You’ll learn how you can validate the request messages on arrival, how you can create loosely coupled controllers, extend the pipeline processing to compartmentalize your code for security and unit testing before being put onto a live hosting server. What you’ll learn What ASP.NET Web API is and how it can be used effectively Ways to optimize your code for readability and performance What controller dependencies are and why they matter How to maintain robust security across your projects Reliable best-practices for using Web API in a professional context Who this book is for The book is ideal for any .NET developer who wants to learn how the ASP.NET Web API framework works in a realistic setting. A good working knowledge of C# and the .NET framework and a familiarity with Visual Studio are the only pre-requisites to benefit from this book Table of Contents Building a Basic Web API Debugging HTTP Formatting CLR Objects into HTTP Response Customizing Response Binding HTTP Request into CLR Objects Validating Request Managing Controller Dependencies Extending Pipeline Hosting ASP.NET Web API Securing ASP.NET Web API Consuming ASP.NET Web API Building Performant Web API