http://ayende.comAyende @ RahienCopyright (C) Ayende Rahien 2004 - 2021 (c) 202660There have been a number of articles debating how the IDependencyResolver interface is "broken" because it has no Release method. http://mikehadlow.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/mvc-30-idependencyresolver-interface-is.html This would also apply to the lambda approach. Do you have an opinion? How do you deal with the potential memory leak?http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment44http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment44Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:25:46 GMTHa! Okay - uncle! If the ground rules are you get to choose the meanings of the words you use, then I'll use more grains of salt when I read your articles. Don't forget how Humpty Dumpty turned out in the end, tho! Truthfully I'm glad folks like you publish how you put technology through the ringer as it usually ends up forming a better product in the end.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment43http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment43Sat, 17 Mar 2012 13:47:23 GMTinteresting, have you tried OpenRasta ? if you did I would like to hear you experience with it compare to the Web API from MS. We have been using OR for building our service api for a while now, i have to say it's really pleasant to work with. thxhttp://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment42http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment42Fri, 16 Mar 2012 18:24:43 GMTChris, "When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less." http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment41http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment41Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:24:43 GMTDefinitions aside, you've got lots of people who mis-undertand the title, myself included. It doesn't matter why or that technically it isn't wrong or that you can explain it in the comments people see after the come here and read the article and read all the comments. Take the feedback and change the title. Folks are finding your blog because it is on the homepage of asp.net (where they have clipped the title) and the resistance here detracts from all other evidence, this post included, that you're a pretty smart guy!http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment40http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment40Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:45:45 GMTSaying something is 'used in anger' makes perfect sense if you understand the English language. Great post.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment39http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment39Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:38:44 GMT"Use in anger" does NOT mean you are angry. It means in earnest, see here for a non-authoritative reference (http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/55/messages/494.html) you went in full force and put it to the test. I understand how people are taking it because well Oren sometimes does come off pretty angry in these posts however I don't think his usage of the phrase is wrong. Aside from that Oren, this is a great post, thanks for doing it!http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment37http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment37Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:01:22 GMT@Steve, That route attribute idea looks like a life saver. I'll give it a go! Actually, I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. The reason I was using operaton handlers was I needed to have code executed in the same thread as the action handler itself, mainly to support localization. The one benefit of using action filters over operation handlers is that the configuration of the action filters are more straight forward (or at least easier to access for thoes who have never worked with WCF before)http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment36http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment36Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:56:31 GMT@dotnetchris: i know it *seems* to make sense, but if you really think about it, it doesn't. Although technically it could be done (and i'll say, quite easily), it's not that it's simply "html". The html you get back from a common ui view in html is a different beast than an "html representation of a resource". So, even though technically could be done, it creates too much friction in practice to exchange the 2 flows. Just my 2 cents.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment35http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment35Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:22:32 GMTI could consider using web api if it was a direct complement to MVC, sadly it chooses to COMPETE with MVC. I want 1 Model, 1 Controller action to return JSON, HTML (razor). Theoretically XML or Atom.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment34http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment34Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:49:23 GMTWard - I'm pretty sure Oren was being sarcastic at the onrush of everyone promoting "my favorite framework" and declaring it universally better than WebAPI. Especially funny is the quote from Phillip Haydon above: "I'll admit I haven't looked at Web Api much other than making a couple of small demos to play with, but I prefer Service Stack. The API is much nicer IMO." Clearly no real analysis was done. Why not just admit that you don't want to learn something new? Even better, if you insert [Cool technology of the day] in that statement, nobody challenges you. What if I said this instead - everyone would be all over it! "By the way, I haven't looked at MVC much. But I prefer WebForms, the API is much nicer." http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment33http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment33Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:14:03 GMTRobert, Check out message handlers - we had a few operation handlers that we were able to port as message handlers: http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/working-with-http/http-message-handlershttp://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment32http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment32Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:52:37 GMTAyende/Robert, What I've done to get around the URL routing issue in Web API is creating an attribute for the action methods that contains a URI template and verb - then reflect over those during app startup to configure the routes. For example: [Route( Template = "/accounts/{accountId}/people/{personId}/notes", Method = "GET" )] public HttpResponseMessage Get(int accountId, int personId) // foreach route attribute: config.Routes.MapHttpRoute ( name: endpoint.Name, // unique name routeTemplate: routeTemplate, // template from attribute defaults: new { controller = controllerRouteName, // name of the controller action = endpoint.Name // name of the method }, constraints: new { httpMethod = httpMethodConstraint } );http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment31http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment31Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:49:49 GMTI agree, the asp.net web api is very good, except for the routing. I can understand why they decided to use the same routing as the mvc as it makes it almost a complete drop in for the mvc... It's frustrating for me because I've been testing with preview 4, 5 and 6 and being able to freely specify the url template per method was very convenient. The other pain point I've found is they have dropped operation handlers in favor for action filters, although I could be easily swayed that action filters are a cleaner way of intercepting an operation...http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment30http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment30Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:35:30 GMTJustin, It is in RavenFS, and we will ship with that, yes.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment29http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment29Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:05:50 GMTWard, "so much better" - in most of these types of posts, I get comments about framework X and why it is so much better than what I am talking about right nowhttp://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment28http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment28Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:05:03 GMTGuys, "using in anger" usually means "using in a non trivial scenario, not a demo scenario". In related to the fact that if things don't work, you will be angry, not that you are angry.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment27http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment27Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:04:23 GMTI think people aren't understanding "in anger" in the title comes from the English expression "to use in anger". I've always understood this expression to mean something like: use X aggressively to see if it meets your needs/requirements, often pushing X to its limits of features or performance. E.g. I've would say "I used my new SSD in anger and am super happy with it", meaning I ran plenty of benchmarks, performance tests and found the results to be good.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment26http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment26Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:01:11 GMTMaybe Ayende was angry he could not find any blogworthy conceptual flaws. I am glad to hear that, congratulations Glenn, you do deserve some REST.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment25http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment25Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:46:52 GMTYep, the title is misleading. I was having a good time with the web api but when your post popped up in my reader I was going like "ok, now let's go and see why Oren hates this" :-)http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment24http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment24Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:16:51 GMTI'm been banging me head against a virtual wall for a week or so thinking "should I use this for my new API stuff I'm learning to do? Maybe I should post something in the RavenDb groups asking what Ayende thinks..". .. then come back from 3 days off the grid .. and Ayende does it :) Thanks Ayende! Really appreciate this post. If you're giving it a tick (with some grumbles here and there) I'm going to give it a go, too :) BTW -> did u end up leaving it in, in your RavenFs stuff? or did u end up rolling back, despite having some positive stuff, with WebAPI?http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment23http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment23Mon, 12 Mar 2012 23:25:50 GMT@Glenn: just out of curiosity, is there a real reason why the apicontroller doesn't implements icontroller (breaking all the rest of the standard mvc chain) or it was just a case of *not enough time* in porting the old non-mvc code to the new environment?http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment22http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment22Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:49:25 GMTIn some cultures "doing something in anger" means "doing it extensively/eagerly" in a such context.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment21http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment21Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:46:22 GMTI thought exactly the same as Ward. I came here to check why You think WebAPI suck so much :)http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment20http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment20Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:28:53 GMTExactly as Jason and Walt say. I read the title and I think you're going to give a blistering critique of WebApi because "you're angry". The body of the post suggests the opposite. While you're at it you might clarify your note: "I am not interested in talking about them and why they are so much better in this post". I am NOT suggesting that you should talk about "them" ... that would be fodder for a different post. It is good to postpone that discussion for another day as you have done. What is unclear to me is if you hold the opinion that "they are so much better". It would be weird if you thought they were "so much better" give the mostly glowing remarks about WebApi. I mean if they were significantly better, why mess around with WebApi? Hope this is helpful somehow. I really did appreciate your (pre)review.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment19http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment19Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:17:49 GMTPerhaps Ward means that title makes it seem that you are mad at WebApihttp://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment18http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment18Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:03:19 GMTIts misleading because from the title you sound like you are angry about how much the API sucks, then in the post it sounds like you mostly like it.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment17http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment17Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:51:02 GMTIts misleading because from the title you sound like you are angry about how much the API sucks, then in the post it sounds like you mostly like it.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment16http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment16Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:50:45 GMTWard, How is this title misleading?http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment15http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment15Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:43:25 GMTWow, Oren. The title of this post is extraordinarily misleading. Would you consider re-writing the title? Maybe an update-note at the top? I have no personal interest in this, btw; I merely feel that the title should be somewhat aligned with the content.http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment14http://ayende.com/155137/thoughts-after-using-asp-net-web-api-beta-in-anger-for-a-week#comment14Mon, 12 Mar 2012 20:33:13 GMT