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Merged
merged 15 commits into from
Apr 30, 2025
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions source/fundamentals/crud.txt
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ CRUD Operations

Write </fundamentals/crud/write-operations>
Read </fundamentals/crud/read-operations>
Tutorial: Create a RESTful API </fundamentals/crud/restful-api-tutorial>

- :ref:`csharp-crud-read-operations`
- :ref:`csharp-crud-write-operations`
- :ref:`csharp-crud-restful-api-tutorial`
377 changes: 377 additions & 0 deletions source/fundamentals/crud/restful-api-tutorial.txt
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.. _csharp-crud-restful-api-tutorial:

============================================================
Tutorial: Create a RESTful API by Using the {+driver-short+}
============================================================

.. facet::
:name: genre
:values: reference

.. meta::
:keywords: crud, code example, tutorial
:description: Learn how to use the .NET/C# Driver to create a RESTful API for your application.

.. contents:: On this page
:local:
:backlinks: none
:depth: 1
:class: singlecol

Overview
--------

In this tutorial, you can learn how to create a RESTful API with endpoints that
perform basic create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations across
collections in a MongoDB Atlas cluster.

Prerequisites
-------------

Before you start this tutorial, perform the following actions:

- Set up a MongoDB Atlas account and deploy and configure a cluster that is M0
or higher. To view instructions, see the :atlas:`Get Started with Atlas </getting-started>` guide.

- Install .NET 6.0 or later on your machine. To install .NET, visit the
`Microsoft .NET download page <https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download>`__.

.. note:: Language Compatibility

This tutorial uses .NET Core 8.0, but you can use any version later than .NET 6.0.

Set Up Your Project
-------------------

Run the following commands in your terminal to create a new .NET Core project
that uses a web application template:

.. code-block:: bash

dotnet new webapi -o MongoExample
cd MongoExample

To add the {+driver-short+} to your project as a dependency, run the following command:

.. code-block:: bash

dotnet add package MongoDB.Driver

The preceding commands create a new web application project for .NET Core named
``MongoExample`` and install the latest {+driver-short+}. The template project
includes some boilerplate files that you modify to implement a RESTful API.

Design a Document Model and Database Service
--------------------------------------------

In this section, you can create and configure your MongoDB service and define
the data model for your RESTful API.

.. procedure:: Create a MongoDB Service
:style: connected

.. step:: Create the MongoDBSettings class

Your MongoDB service is responsible for establishing a connection and
directly working with documents within MongoDB. In your project, create a
folder named ``Models``. In the ``Models`` folder, create a new file named
``MongoDBSettings.cs``. In this file, add the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBSettingsSetup.cs
:language: csharp
:dedent:

The preceding code defines a class named ``MongoDBSettings`` that
contains information about your connection, the database name, and the
collection name.

.. step:: Update the appsettings.json file

You can find the data that is stored in the class fields defined in the
``MongoDBSettings`` class in the projects' ``appsettings.json``
file. Open this file and add the following configuration:

.. code-block:: json
:copyable: true

{
"Logging": {
"LogLevel": {
"Default": "Information",
"Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
}
},
"AllowedHosts": "*",
"MongoDB": {
"ConnectionURI": "<Atlas connection string>",
"DatabaseName": "sample_mflix",
"CollectionName": "playlist"
}
}

This tutorial uses the ``sample_mflix`` database and the ``playlist``
collection. Replace the ``<Atlas connection string>`` placeholder with
your MongoDB Atlas connection string. For more information on how to find
your connection string, see the :atlas:`Connect to Your Cluster </tutorial/connect-to-your-cluster>`
tutorial in the Atlas documentation.

.. step:: Create the service

In your project, create a folder named ``Services``. In the ``Services``
folder, create a new file named ``MongoDBService.cs`` and add the
following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBServiceSetup.cs
:language: csharp
:dedent:

The preceding code defines a class named ``MongoDBService`` that includes
empty asynchronous functions. Throughout this tutorial, you add code to these
functions as you create your endpoints. The settings you configured in the
``appsettings.json`` file are set to variables.

.. step:: Connect the service to the application

Open the ``Program.cs`` file and add the following code to the top of the file:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBExampleProgram.cs
:language: csharp
:dedent:
:start-after: start-program-setup
:end-before: end-program-setup

In the preceding code, the ``GetSection()`` function pulls your settings
from the ``MongoDB`` field in the ``appsettings.json`` file.

.. tip::

If the template code already has the ``builder`` variable, don't add it twice.

.. step:: Create the document model

Now that the service is set up, you can create a data model for your collection.

In the ``Models`` folder, create a new file named ``Playlist.cs`` and add
the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/PlaylistSetup.cs
:language: csharp
:dedent:

In the preceding code, the ``Id`` field is serialized as an ``ObjectId``
in the ``_id`` field. The field is represented as a string in your application.

The ``movieIds`` field is serialized as ``items``. When you send or
receive JSON values, the field is also named ``items`` instead of
``movieIds``.

If you plan to have your local class field match the document field
directly, it isn't necessary to define custom mappings. For example, the
``username`` field in the preceding code has no custom mappings. It is called
be ``username`` in C#, in JSON, and in MongoDB.

After this step, you have a MongoDB service and document model for your collection to work
with .NET Core.

Build CRUD Endpoints
--------------------

To create the CRUD endpoints for this application, you must update two
different files within the project. In this section, you can learn how to define
the endpoint within a controller and update the corresponding work within the
service.

.. note:: Data Validation

In this example project, there is no data validation for the HTTP requests.

.. procedure:: Build endpoints to interact with MongoDB
:style: connected

.. step:: Create a controller

In your project, create a folder named ``Controllers``. In the
``Controllers`` folder, create a new file named ``PlaylistController.cs``
and add the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/PlaylistControllerSetup.cs
:language: csharp
:dedent:

The ``PlaylistController`` class contains a constructor method that gains
access to your singleton service class. Then, there is a series of
endpoints for this controller.

.. step:: Add data through the POST endpoint

Go to ``Services/MongoDBService.cs`` and update the ``CreateAsync``
function to use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBServiceComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-create-async
:end-before: end-create-async
:dedent:

The preceding code sets the ``_playlistCollection`` in the constructor
method of the service. This lets your application use the
``InsertOneAsync`` method, which takes a passed ``Playlist`` variable and
inserts it.

To complete the creation of the ``POST`` endpoint, go to the
``Controllers/PlaylistController.cs`` file and update the ``Post`` method
to use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/PlaylistControllerComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-post
:end-before: end-post
:dedent:

When the ``POST`` endpoint executes, the application takes the
``Playlist`` object from the ``request``, which .NET Core parses, and
passes it to the ``CreateAsync`` function in the service. After the
insert, the code returns information about the interaction.

.. step:: Read data through the GET endpoint

Go to ``Services/MongoDBService.cs`` and update the ``GetAsync`` function to
use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBServiceComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-get-async
:end-before: end-get-async
:dedent:

The ``Find`` operation in the preceding code returns all documents that
exist in the collection.

To complete the creation of the ``GET`` endpoint, go to the
``Controllers/PlaylistController.cs`` file and update the ``Get`` method to
use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/PlaylistControllerComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-get
:end-before: end-get
:dedent:

.. step:: Update data using the PUT endpoint

Go to ``Services/MongoDBService.cs`` and update the ``AddToPlaylistAsync``
function to use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBServiceComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-add-to-playlist-async
:end-before: end-add-to-playlist-async
:dedent:

The preceding code sets up a match filter to determine which document or
documents receive an update, in this case adding an item to your playlist.
The code matches based on the ``Id`` field, which is unique. Then, the
code defines the update critera, which is an ``AddtoSet`` operation that
only adds an item to the array if it doesn't already exist in the array.

The ``UpdateOneAsync`` methods only updates on document even if the match
filter returns more than one match.

To complete the creation of the PUT endpoint, go to the
``Controllers/PlaylistController.cs`` file and update the
``AddToPlaylist`` function to use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/PlaylistControllerComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-put
:end-before: end-put
:dedent:

.. step:: Delete data by using the DELETE endpoint

Go to ``Services/MongoDBService.cs`` and update the ``DeleteAsync`` function to
use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBServiceComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-delete-async
:end-before: end-delete-async
:dedent:

The preceding code deletes a single document based on the filter criteria,
which matches the unique value of the ``Id`` field.

To complete the creation of the DELETE endpoint, go to the
``Controllers/PlaylistController.cs`` file and update the
``Delete`` function to use the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/PlaylistControllerComplete.cs
:language: csharp
:start-after: start-delete
:end-before: end-delete
:dedent:

After this step, you have a complete set of CRUD endpoints for your RESTful API.

Test Your API Endpoints
-----------------------

With the endpoints created, you can test them using the Swagger UI that is
included with the template .NET Core application. To do this, go to the
``Program.cs`` file and remove any code from the template project related to the
``WeatherForecast`` class. Update the file to include the following code:

.. literalinclude:: /includes/fundamentals/code-examples/restful-api-tutorial/MongoDBExampleProgram.cs
:language: csharp
:dedent:
:start-after: start-program-example
:end-before: end-program-example

You can replace any repetitive code from the project template with the preceding code.

Execute the following command to run your application:

.. code-block:: bash

dotnet run

After the application starts, open your browser and go to your configured
localhost URL to access the Swagger UI, for example
``http://localhost:5000/swagger``. The following image shows how the Swagger UI
appears:

.. figure:: /includes/figures/restful-api-tutorial-swagger-ui.jpg
:alt: Swagger UI
:align: center

The Swagger UI for the RESTful API.

You can test the application by clicking the :guilabel:`Try it out` button on each
endpoint. To get started, go to the ``/api/playlists`` ``POST`` endpoint
to add some data to the database. Add the following sample data:

.. code-block:: json
:copyable: true

{
"username": "testuser",
"items": [
"1234",
"5678"
]
}

Run this request to insert data into the database. You can then go to the ``GET``
endpoint to see the data you just inserted. You can also test the ``PUT`` and
``DELETE`` endpoints to update and delete data.

Next Steps
----------

To learn more about the operations discussed in this tutorial, see the following
guides:

- :ref:`csharp-insert-guide`
- :ref:`csharp-retrieve`
- :ref:`csharp-update-one`
- :ref:`csharp-delete-guide`
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