ASP.NET Web API-Configuration

To configure an ASP.NET Web API, you need to make changes in several areas of your application. By defualt web API configure file displayed as below image.

Here are the following key steps involved in configuring Web API.

1. Add NuGet Packages - If your project need some necessary NuGet packages. The most important package is Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi which defines the Web API functionality. You can use the NuGet Package Manager in Visual Studio or the Package Manager Console to install the required packages.

2. Configure Web API in Global.asax - Open the Global.asax file in your Web API project. In the Application_Start method, add the following code to configure Web API.

protected void Application_Start(){
    GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register);
}

3. WebApiConfig class -  Class called WebApiConfig.cs in your project. This class will contain the configuration settings for your Web API. Here's an example of what the class might look like that. When the program starts, the Web API configuration procedure begins. It is known as GlobalConfiguration.In the Application_Start function, use Configure(WebApiConfig.Register). The callback function where Web API has been setup in code is required by the Configure() method. This is the static WebApiConfig.Register() function by default.

using System.Web.Http;

public static class WebApiConfig
{
    public static void Register(HttpConfiguration config)
    {
        // Web API routes
        config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

        // Optional: Configure JSON formatting
        config.Formatters.JsonFormatter.SerializerSettings.ContractResolver = new CamelCasePropertyNamesContractResolver();

        // Optional: Enable CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)
        // Uncomment the following lines if you need to enable CORS
        // var cors = new EnableCorsAttribute("http://example.com", "*", "*");
        // config.EnableCors(cors);
    }
}

4. Configure Routes - In the WebApiConfig class, you can define the traversing routes for your Web API by using the config.MapHttpAttributeRoutes() method. This enables you to use attribute routing to define the routes directly on your controller methods. Alternatively, you can use the traditional routing approach by adding route configuration statements using config.Routes.MapHttpRoute().

5. Optional Configurations - If You want to perform additional configurations based on your requirements in the application. For example, you can configure JSON formatting, enable CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing), configure authentication and authorization, or set up dependency injection.

After making required change build and run your application. Your Web API should now be configured and ready to handle incoming requests according to configuration.