[ACCEPTED]-Hosting ASP.NET Core API in a Windows Forms Application-asp.net-core-webapi

Hosting ASP.NET CORE API in a Windows Forms Application and Interaction with Form

Here is a basic step by step example about 9 how to create a project to host ASP.NET 8 CORE API inside a Windows Forms Application 7 and perform some interaction with Form.

To 6 do so, follow these steps:

1. Create a Windows Forms Application name it MyWinFormsApp
2. Open Form1 in design mode and drop a TextBox on it.
3. Change the Modifiers property of the textBox1 in designer to Public and save it.
4. Install Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc package
5. Install Microsoft.AspNetCore package

6. Create a Startup.cs file 5 in the root of the project, and copy the 4 following code:

   using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
   using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
   using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
   using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
   using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
   namespace MyWinFormsApp
   {
       public class Startup
       {
           public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
           {
               Configuration = configuration;
           }
           public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }
           public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
           {
               services.AddMvc().SetCompatibilityVersion(CompatibilityVersion.Version_2_2);
           }
           public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
           {
               if (env.IsDevelopment())
               {
                   app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
               }
               app.UseMvc();
           }
       }
   }
   

7. Copy the following code in 3 Program.cs:

   using System;
   using System.Threading;
   using System.Windows.Forms;
   using Microsoft.AspNetCore;
   using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
   
   namespace MyWinFormsApp
   {
       public class Program
       {
           public static Form1 MainForm { get; private set; }
   
           [STAThread]
           public static void Main(string[] args)
           {
               CreateWebHostBuilder(args).Build().RunAsync();
   
               Application.EnableVisualStyles();
               Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
               MainForm = new Form1();
               Application.Run(MainForm);
           }
   
           public static IWebHostBuilder CreateWebHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
               WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
                   .UseStartup<Startup>();
       }
   }
   

8. Create a folder called Controllers in the root of 2 the project.

9. Create ValuesController.cs in the Controllers folder and copy 1 the following code to file:

   using System;
   using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
   
   namespace MyWinFormsApp.Controllers
   {
       [Route("api/[controller]")]
       [ApiController]
       public class ValuesController : ControllerBase
       {
           [HttpGet]
           public ActionResult<string> Get()
           {
               string text = "";
               Program.MainForm.Invoke(new Action(() =>
               {
                   text = Program.MainForm.textBox1.Text;
               }));
               return text;
           }
   
           [HttpGet("{id}")]
           public ActionResult Get(string id)
           {
               Program.MainForm.Invoke(new Action(() =>
               {
                   Program.MainForm.textBox1.Text = id;
               }));
               return Ok();
           }
       }
   }
   

10. Run the application.

11. Type "hi" in the textBox1
12. Open browser and browse http://localhost:5000/api/values → You will see hi as response.
13. http://localhost:5000/api/values/bye → You will see bye in textBox1

I Install Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc and Microsoft.AspNetCore package can't use

I look 7 at this WebApplication.CreateBuilder Method Doc find need Microsoft.AspNetCore.dll, but 6 I can't use this.

I hope it helps others.

Install 5 Microsoft.AspNetCore.App package

dotnet add package Microsoft.AspNetCore.App --version 2.2.8

the Minimal API:

Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder.WebApplication app = Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder.WebApplication.Create(new string[] { });
app.MapGet("/", () => "Hello World!");
app.RunAsync();

Ok, now you can 4 open http:localhost:5000 to look Hello World!

Because few people will use parameters in WinForm, string[] args is omitted here, and new string[] { } is used instead

If you want to ues controller, like 3 ASP.NET Core, then you can use this:

var builder = Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder.WebApplication.CreateBuilder(new string[]{});
builder.Services.AddControllers();

var app = builder.Build();
app.MapControllers();
app.RunAsync();

HomeController.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace RuyutWinFormsApi;

[Route("api/[controller]")]
[ApiController]
public class HomeController : ControllerBase
{
    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult Get()
    {
        return Ok("This is a test api");
    }
}

you 2 can open http://localhost:5000/api/home to look This is a test api

BTY, if you want to change 1 port, you can add this:

app.Urls.Add("http://0.0.0.0:8080");