What Is The Difference Between A MVC Controller And An API Controller?

The .NET environment is a robust development platform and gives you a consistent structure for developing software and web applications. So, it is important that you understand MVC and API controllers and all of their interactions and functions. In this article, we will go over both controllers, their roles, and their uses in software development.

Alright, here we go!🚀

What Is The Difference Between A MVC Controller And An API Controller

The main difference between a MVC controller and an API controller is in what they can be used for: a MVC controller is primarily used to return a view or web page to the user while an API controller provides data that can be used by another application.

Now that you have a basic understanding of the difference between both types of controllers, you might be wondering further how they work. Let us dive deeper into both their roles and implementation.

Role Overview

MVC Controllers

These controllers are implemented in the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, (you can read more about this design pattern here). They handle CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) actions between the user and data, generating the result as a web page or view. You use them to build dynamic web applications with user interfaces.

API Controllers

You can use these controllers to provide data from endpoints within an Application Programming Interface or an API for short. They use HTTP services to manage client requests, returning the data in JSON or XML format. You will see them in RESTful service development and can be also known as a Web API.

Controller Implementation

Knowing when to use which type of controller depends on the purpose and the goal of your application. If you need to display dynamic user interfaces, then choose the MVC controller. If you do not wish for the user to interact directly with internal code, then you will choose the API controller.

In my blog application, I used both types of controllers. Down below, you will see the code for PostsController.

public class PostsController : Controller  
{  
    // Omitted for brevity  
}  

PostsController is a MVC controller that inherits from the Controller class. It handles user requests and displays blog posts in an article format directly to the screen.

In the next example, you will see PostsAPIController, an API controller that I developed to handle requests and returns article data in JSON format. My portfolio website used this endpoint to access data about the latest blog posts.

[ApiController]  
public class PostsAPIController : ControllerBase  
{  
    // Omitted for brevity  
}  

PostsAPIController inherits from the ControllerBase class and uses the ApiController attribute. Another good option to implement could be to have the PostsAPIController inherit from the APIController class.

Wrapping up - The Difference Between A MVC Controller And An API Controller

Ok, you should have gained a better understanding of both MVC and API controllers and the difference between them. And it’s important that you understand these controllers and how you can interact with them. Sometimes projects will dictate which type of controller to implement, depending on how the user will interact with the software or web application.

Thanks and keep coding! ✌️😎

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