If you created a site collection based on the publishing site, by default SharePoint 2013 does not show the Team Site template.
To enable the Team Site template:
ASP.NET SignalR is a new HTTP technology that allows for a persistent connection between a client and a server. Check out http://signalr.net/ for more information on SignalR.
Here is a tutorial on creating a simple “Chat” SignalR server application using C# and ASP.NET MVC 4 in Visual Studio 2012. The client application will be an ASP.NET MVC View.
protected void Application_Start() {
AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
RouteTable.Routes.MapHubs();
WebApiConfig.Register(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration);
FilterConfig.RegisterGlobalFilters(GlobalFilters.Filters);
RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}
The SignalR route must be placed before the MVC route so that the requests for the hub are not swallowed up by the MVC route.
public class Chat : Hub {
public void SendMessage(string nick, string message) {
Clients.All.PublishMessage(nick, message);
}
}
“PublishMessage” is not defined on the server-side application. This is a dynamic function that will be called in the client’s JavaScript. You can, if you like, annotate the server hub class with another name that the client can use. For example, we can give the server class the name “MessageSender” with annotation [HubName(“MessageSender ”)]. We are not doing this in our simple example.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<title>@ViewBag.Title - My SignalR Chat Hub</title>
<link href="~/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon"
type="image/x-icon" />
<link href="~/Content/Site.css" rel="stylesheet" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="body">
<section class="content-wrapper main-content clear-fix">
@RenderBody()
</section>
</div>
</body>
</html>
<h2>Chat</h2>
<label for="nick" >Your chat nickname:</label><br />
<input type="text" name="nick" id="nick" />
<br /><br />
<label for="message" >Message:</label><br />
<input type="text" name="message" id="message" maxlength="100" />
<div id="chatWindow" style="width: 100%; height: 300px; overflow: scroll; border: 1px solid grey"></div>
<br />
<script src="~/Scripts/jquery-1.6.4.min.js"></script>
<script src="~/Scripts/jquery.signalR-1.0.1.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/signalr/hubs"></script>
<script>
$(function () {
// get handle to chat hub generated by SignalR
var chatHub = $.connection.chat;
// add method that can be called by the hub to update chat
chatHub.client.publishMessage = function (nick, msg) {
var chatWin = $("#chatWindow");
chatWin.html(chatWin.html() + "<b>" + nick + "</b>: " + msg + "<br />");
};
// start the connection with the hub
$.connection.hub.start();
$(document).keypress(function (e) {
if (e.which == 13) {
// when the 'Enter' key is pressed, send the message to hub
chatHub.server.sendMessage($("#nick").val(), $("#message").val());
$("#message").val("");
}
});
});
</script>
I hope you found this short tutorial useful. At this point, I am sure your mind is spinning with potential applications that you can build with this technology.
Web API was introduced together with ASP.NET MVC 4. It is an ideal platform for building RESTful applications. In this tutorial, we will create a simple Web API server application using ASP.NET MVC 4. We will then consume the server application from a simple C# Command Line client application that executes CRUD operations against the Northwind Category table through Web API. The acronym CRUD stand for (C)reate (R)etrieve (U)date (D)elete.
Let us start by creating a Web API server web application using the famed Northwind database Category table.
Next we need to create a Web API controller for the Categories table. This is done very easily in ASP.NET MVC 4.0.
Now let us test to confirm that our Web API controller for categories actually works.
public class Category {
public int CategoryId { get; set; }
public string CategoryName { get; set; }
public string Description { get; set; }
public override string ToString() {
string str = string.Format("ID={0}; Name={1}; Description={2}", CategoryId, CategoryName, Description);
return str;
}
}
We will need to use a NuGet package named “Microsoft ASP.NET Web API Client Libraries” for accessing Web API through HTTP.
Right-click on the command-line project “WebApiClient” and choose: Manage NuGet Packages. Enter “Microsoft ASP.NET Web API Client Libraries” in the search toolbox on the top right-hand side of the dialog.
When the appropriate NuGet package appears, click on the Install button beside it.
The CategoryWebApiHelper class will be used to simulate CRUD operations. In the command-line client application, create a class named CategoryWebApiHelper with the following instance variables and constructor:
public class CategoryWebApiHelper {
private string apiUrl = "";
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
public CategoryWebApiHelper(string baseUrl, string apiUrl) {
this.apiUrl = apiUrl;
this.client.BaseAddress = new Uri(baseUrl);
// Add an Accept header for JSON format.
this.client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/json"));
}
}
You will need to resolve the HttpClient and MediaMediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue classes
We will need two get methods. One to retrieve all categories and one to retrieve a specific category by ID. First, add the following Get() method to the CategoryWebApiHelper class that essentially reads in all the categories from the database:
public List<Category> Get() {
HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync(this.apiUrl).Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode) {
var categories = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<IEnumerable<Category>>().Result;
return categories.ToList();
}
else
return null;
}
Notice that async calls are being made to the server. The most interesting thing about the above code is that the ReadAsAsync method reads the response body and de-serializes it to a specified CLR type.
The HttpResponseMessage has a property IsSuccessStatusCode that indicates whether or not the response is OK.
Next, we will add a method that retrieves data for a Category object specified by the CategoryId.
public Category Get(int customerId) {
HttpResponseMessage response = client.GetAsync(this.apiUrl + customerId).Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode) {
var category = response.Content.ReadAsAsync<Category>().Result;
return category;
}
else
return null;
}
Add the following method to create a Category record in the database:
public string PostInsert(Category category) {
HttpResponseMessage response = client.PostAsJsonAsync(apiUrl, category).Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
return string.Format("Category {0} inserted successfully", category.CategoryName);
else
return string.Format("{0} ({1})", (int)response.StatusCode, response.ReasonPhrase);
}
Unlike with the get methods where we used client.GetAsync(), we use client.PostAsJsonAsync() in order to insert data. Notice that the PostAsJsonAsync() method takes two parameters – namely a relative URL and the Category object.
The helper method for updating category data is shown below:
public string PutUpdate(Category category) {
HttpResponseMessage response = client.PutAsJsonAsync(this.apiUrl + category.CategoryId, category).Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
return string.Format("Category {0} updated successfully", category.CategoryId);
else
return string.Format("{0} ({1})", (int)response.StatusCode, response.ReasonPhrase);
}
The PutAsJsonAsync() method is used to update data. It takes two arguments. The first argument contains information about the CategoryId that is to be updated. The second argument is a Category object.
Finally, the helper method for deleting data needs to know the primary key as shown below:
public string Delete(int categoryId) {
HttpResponseMessage response = client.DeleteAsync(this.apiUrl + categoryId).Result;
if (response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
return string.Format("Category {0} deleted successfully", categoryId);
else
return String.Format("{0} ({1})", (int)response.StatusCode, response.ReasonPhrase);
}
The DeleteAsync() methods needs the CategoryId that is to be deleted.
In the Main() method of your Program.cs class, construct an instance of the CategoryWebApiHelper class as follows:
CategoryWebApiHelper helper = new CategoryWebApiHelper("http://localhost:14350/", "api/category/");
Adjust the above URL to suit your particular environment. Next, let’s just read all the items in the Categories table. Add the following code to the Main() method:
// get all Category items
List<Category> categories = helper.Get();
foreach (Category t in categories)
Console.WriteLine(t);
Console.WriteLine("============================================");
Run the command-line application by hitting Ctrl-F5 and you should see output similar to:
Next, lets retrieve data for a specific category, say ID=5. Add this code to your main method:
// get one Category
Category category = helper.Get(5);
if (category != null)
Console.WriteLine(category);
Console.WriteLine("============================================");
This will result in output like the following:
Similarly, you can test our other helper methods for adding, updating, and deleting data.
// Add a Category
var newCategory = new Category() {
CategoryName = "Teas",
Description = "Darjeeling"
};
Console.WriteLine(helper.PostInsert(newCategory));
// Update Category with ID=12
Category category = helper.Get(12);
category.Description = "Peppermint";
Console.WriteLine(helper.PutUpdate(category));
Console.WriteLine(helper.Get(12));
// Delete Category with ID=12
helper.Delete(12);
It is strange how it is always easiest to delete.
I hope you found this post useful.
