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Create your first webservice

Demis Bellot edited this page Mar 6, 2014 · 2 revisions

> In addition to this, there are a number of great walk-thru’s into ServiceStack in the
[Community Resources](https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack/wiki/Create-your-first-webservice#community-resources) section below. Like this [detailed walk-thru with Screenshots](http://nilsnaegele.com/codeedge/servicestack.html) by [@nilsnagele](https://twitter.com/nilsnagele).

  1. Step 1: Create an application

ServiceStack can be hosted in a few ways: console application, windows service, ASP.NET Web Form or MVC in IIS, etc.

For this tutorial, an empty ASP.NET Web Application (non MVC) is assumed.

  1. Step 2: Install ServiceStack
    To install ServiceStack into your application, you have two options to get the binaries:
  1. NuGet
    ![Install-Pacakage ServiceStack](http://servicestack.net/img/nuget-servicestack.png)

> Tip: You can find an explanation about all NuGet packages which ServiceStack offers [here](https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack/wiki/NuGet). The package above only adds the binaries, but there also exist some packages which add the required configurations etc.

  1. Manual Download

Only current option for manual download is to download source and build yourself.
*

After you’ve added the binaries, you need to register ServiceStack in `web.config`:

If you want to host ServiceStack at root path (`/`), you should use this configuration:

<system.web>
  <httpHandlers>
    <add path="*" type="ServiceStack.HttpHandlerFactory, ServiceStack" verb="*"/>
  </httpHandlers>
</system.web>

<!-- Required for IIS 7.0 (and above?) -->
<system.webServer>
  <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
  <handlers>
    <add path="*" name="ServiceStack.Factory" type="ServiceStack.HttpHandlerFactory, ServiceStack" verb="*" preCondition="integratedMode" resourceType="Unspecified" allowPathInfo="true" />
  </handlers>
</system.webServer>

> Tip: If you want to host your webservice on a custom path to avoid conflicts with another web framework (eg ASP.Net MVC), see https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack/wiki/Run-servicestack-side-by-side-with-another-web-framework.

> Note: Due to limitations in IIS 6 – host [ServiceStack at a /custompath](http://mono.servicestack.net/ServiceStack.Hello/#custompath) which must end with `.ashx`, e.g: `path=“api.ashx”`

  1. Step 3: Create your first webservice

If `Global.asax.cs` doesn’t already exist you have to add it manually. To do this Right-click on your project and go
Add → New Item, then select the Global Application class.

Each service in ServiceStack consists of three parts:

- Request DTO
- Service implementation
- Response DTO

That’s the core philosophy in ServiceStack. Each service has a strongly-typed, code-first (normal POCOs) request DTO and response DTO. You can read a detailed explanation what advantages exist if you’re using DTOs in the [ReadMe](https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack/blob/master/README.md) or in [Why should I use ServiceStack?] (https://github.com/ServiceStack/ServiceStack/wiki/Why-Servicestack).

1. Create the name of your Web Service (i.e. the Request DTO)

[Route("/hello")]
[Route("/hello/{Name}")]
public class Hello
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

2. Define what your Web Service will return (i.e. Response DTO)

public class HelloResponse
{
    public string Result { get; set; }
}

3. Create your Web Service implementation

public class HelloService : Service
{
    public object Any(Hello request)
    {
        return new HelloResponse { Result = "Hello, " + request.Name };
    }
} 
  1. Step 4: Registering your web services and starting your application

The final step is to configure setup to tell ServiceStack where to find your web services. To do that, add this code to your `Global.asax.cs`:

public class Global : System.Web.HttpApplication
{
    public class AppHost : AppHostBase
    {
        //Tell Service Stack the name of your application and where to find your web services
        public AppHost() : base("Hello Web Services", typeof(HelloService).Assembly) { }

        public override void Configure(Funq.Container container)
        {
            //register any dependencies your services use, e.g:
            //container.Register<ICacheClient>(new MemoryCacheClient());
        }
    }

    //Initialize your application singleton
    protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        new AppHost().Init();
    }
}

Done! You now have a working application :)

As you can see, you have created an `AppHost`. Mainly all configuration related to ServiceStack is made in the `AppHost`. It’s the starting point in your application.

  1. Disable WebApi from the default MVC4 VS.NET template

If you are using MVC4 then you need to comment line in global.asax.cs to disable WebApi

//WebApiConfig.Register(GlobalConfiguration.Configuration);
  1. ServiceStack is now Ready!

Now that you have a working Web Service lets see what ServiceStack does for you out of the box:

If everything is configured correctly you can go to `http:///metadata` to see a list of your web services and the various end points its available on.

![Metadata page](http://mono.servicestack.net/ServiceStack.Hello/img/MetadataIndex.png)

> Tip: In the screenshot the root path is `http://localhost/ServiceStack.Hello/servicestack`. On your development box the root path might be something like `http://localhost:60335` (ie the URL on which your webservice is hosted).

Let’s access the HelloWorld service you created in your browser, so write the following URL in your address bar:

`GET http:///hello/YourName`
eg http://mono.servicestack.net/ServiceStack.Hello/servicestack/hello/Max.

As you can see after clicking on this link, ServiceStack also contains a HTML response format, which makes the XML/Json (…) output human-readable. To change the return format to Json, simply add `?format=json` to the end of the URL. You’ll learn more about formats, endpoints (URLs, etc) when you continue reading the documentation.

  1. Troubleshooting
    If you happen to generate requests from the wsdls with a tool like soapUI you may end up with an incorrectly generated request like this:
    <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:typ="http://schemas.servicestack.net/types">
      <soap:Header/>
      <soap:Body>
        <typ:Hello/>
      </soap:Body>
    </soap:Envelope>

You can resolve this issue by adding the following line to your AssemblyInfo file

[assembly: ContractNamespace("http://schemas.servicestack.net/types", ClrNamespace = "<YOUR NAMESPACE>")]

Rebuild and regenerate the request from the updated wsdl. You should get a correct request this time.

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:typ="http://schemas.servicestack.net/types">
   <soap:Header/>
   <soap:Body>
      <typ:Hello>
         <!--Optional:-->
         <typ:Name>?</typ:Name>
      </typ:Hello>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>
  1. Explore more ServiceStack features

The [EmailContacts solution](https://github.com/ServiceStack/EmailContacts/) is a new guidance available that walks through the recommended setup and physical layout structure of typical medium-sized ServiceStack projects, including complete documentation of how to create the solution from scratch, whilst explaining all the ServiceStack features it makes use of along the way.

  1. Community Resources
- [Getting started with ServiceStack – Creating a service](http://dilanperera.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/getting-started-with-servicestack-creating-a-service/) - [ServiceStack Quick Start](http://mediocresoft.com/things/servicestack-quick-start) by [@aarondandy](https://github.com/aarondandy) - [Fantastic Step-by-step walk-thru into ServiceStack with Screenshots!](http://nilsnaegele.com/codeedge/servicestack.html) by [@nilsnagele](https://twitter.com/nilsnagele) - [Your first REST service with ServiceStack](http://tech.pro/tutorial/1148/your-first-rest-service-with-servicestack) by [@cyberzeddk](https://twitter.com/cyberzeddk) - [New course: Using ServiceStack to Build APIs](http://blog.pluralsight.com/2012/11/29/new-course-using-servicestack-to-build-apis/) by [@pluralsight](http://twitter.com/pluralsight) - [ServiceStack the way I like it](http://tonyonsoftware.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lessons-learned-whilst-using.html) by [@tonydenyer](https://twitter.com/tonydenyer) - [Generating a RESTful Api and UI from a database with LLBLGen](http://www.mattjcowan.com/funcoding/2013/03/10/rest-api-with-llblgen-and-servicestack/) by [@mattjcowan](https://twitter.com/mattjcowan) - [ServiceStack: Reusing DTOs](http://korneliuk.blogspot.com/2012/08/servicestack-reusing-dtos.html) by [@korneliuk](https://twitter.com/korneliuk) - [Using ServiceStack with CodeFluent Entities](http://blog.codefluententities.com/2013/03/06/using-servicestack-with-codefluent-entities/) by [@SoftFluent](https://twitter.com/SoftFluent) - [ServiceStack, Rest Service and EasyHttp](http://blogs.lessthandot.com/index.php/WebDev/ServerProgramming/servicestack-restservice-and-easyhttp) by [@chrissie1](https://twitter.com/chrissie1) - [Building a Web API in SharePoint 2010 with ServiceStack](http://www.mattjcowan.com/funcoding/2012/05/04/building-a-web-api-in-sharepoint-2010-with-servicestack) - [JQueryMobile and ServiceStack: EventsManager tutorial part #3](http://paymentnetworks.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/jquerymobile-and-service-stack-eventsmanager-tutorial-post-3/) by [+Kyle Hodgson](https://plus.google.com/u/0/113523377752095590770/posts) - [REST Raiding. ServiceStack](http://dgondotnet.blogspot.de/2012/04/rest-raiding-servicestack.html) by [Daniel Gonzalez](http://www.blogger.com/profile/13468563783321963413) - [JQueryMobile and Service Stack: EventsManager tutorial](http://kylehodgson.com/2012/04/21/jquerymobile-and-service-stack-eventsmanager-tutorial-post-2/) / [Part 3](http://kylehodgson.com/2012/04/23/jquerymobile-and-service-stack-eventsmanager-tutorial-post-3/) by [+Kyle Hodgson](https://plus.google.com/u/0/113523377752095590770/posts) - [Like WCF: Only cleaner!](http://kylehodgson.com/2012/04/18/like-wcf-only-cleaner-9/) by [+Kyle Hodgson](https://plus.google.com/u/0/113523377752095590770/posts) - [ServiceStack I heart you. My conversion from WCF to SS](http://www.philliphaydon.com/2012/02/service-stack-i-heart-you-my-conversion-from-wcf-to-ss/) by [@philliphaydon](https://twitter.com/philliphaydon) - [Service Stack vs WCF Data Services](http://codealoc.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/service-stack-vs-wcf-data-services/) - [Creating a basic catalogue endpoint with ServiceStack](http://blogs.7digital.com/dev/2011/10/17/creating-a-basic-catalogue-endpoint-with-servicestack/) by [7digital](http://blogs.7digital.com) - [Building a Tridion WebService with jQuery and ServiceStack](http://www.curlette.com/?p=161) by [@robrtc](https://twitter.com/#!/robrtc) - [Anonymous type + Dynamic + ServiceStack == Consuming cloud has never been easier](http://www.ienablemuch.com/2012/05/anonymous-type-dynamic-servicestack.html) by [@ienablemuch](https://twitter.com/ienablemuch) - [Handful of examples of using ServiceStack based on the ServiceStack.Hello Tutorial](https://github.com/jfoshee/TryServiceStack) by [@82unpluggd](https://twitter.com/82unpluggd)


  1. Getting Started
    1. Create your first webservice
    2. Your first webservice explained
    3. ServiceStack's new API Design
    4. Designing a REST-ful service with ServiceStack
    5. Example Projects Overview
  2. Reference
    1. Order of Operations
    2. The IoC container
    3. Metadata page
    4. Rest, SOAP & default endpoints
    5. SOAP support
    6. Routing
    7. Service return types
    8. Customize HTTP Responses
    9. Plugins
    10. Validation
    11. Error Handling
    12. Security
    13. Debugging
  3. Clients
    1. Overview
    2. C# client
    3. Silverlight client
    4. JavaScript client
    5. Dart Client
    6. MQ Clients
  4. Formats
    1. Overview
    2. JSON/JSV and XML
    3. ServiceStack's new HTML5 Report Format
    4. ServiceStack's new CSV Format
    5. MessagePack Format
    6. ProtoBuf Format
  5. View Engines 4. Razor & Markdown Razor
    1. Markdown Razor
  6. Hosts
    1. IIS
    2. Self-hosting
    3. Messaging
    4. Mono
  7. Security
    1. Authentication/authorization
    2. Sessions
    3. Restricting Services
  8. Advanced
    1. Configuration options
    2. Access HTTP specific features in services
    3. Logging
    4. Serialization/deserialization
    5. Request/response filters
    6. Filter attributes
    7. Concurrency Model
    8. Built-in caching options
    9. Built-in profiling
    10. Form Hijacking Prevention
    11. Auto-Mapping
    12. HTTP Utils
    13. Virtual File System
    14. Config API
    15. Physical Project Structure
    16. Modularizing Services
    17. MVC Integration
  9. Plugins 3. Request logger 4. Swagger API
  10. Tests
    1. Testing
    2. HowTo write unit/integration tests
  11. Other Languages
    1. FSharp
    2. VB.NET
  12. Use Cases
    1. Single Page Apps
    2. Azure
    3. Logging
    4. Bundling and Minification
    5. NHibernate
  13. Performance
    1. Real world performance
  14. How To
    1. Sending stream to ServiceStack
    2. Setting UserAgent in ServiceStack JsonServiceClient
    3. ServiceStack adding to allowed file extensions
    4. Default web service page how to
  15. Future
    1. Roadmap

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