Modular ASP.NET Web API - Proof of concept

Proof of concept that we can add new Web APIs to an ASP.NET Web API project while it is running and without restarting it.

Steps to prove

In the following steps, {host} is the base URL of your host environment. For me, it is an IIS Express: "localhost:49603".

1. [Optional step] send a GET request to http://{host}/api/modules/

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" "http://{host}/api/modules/"

We have not added any module yet. So you should receive an empty array: [ ].

2. [Optional step] send a GET request to http://{host}/api/articles/

curl -X GET -H "Content-Type: application/json" "http://localhost:49603/api/articles"

The "articles" module has been not added yet. So you should receive a 404 (Not Found) status.

3. send a POST request to http://{host}/api/modules/moduleOne

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" "http://localhost:49603/api/modules/moduleone"

The application tries to locate ModuleOne.dll in the ~/plugins folder and load it to the Application Domain. You should receive a 204 (No content) status.

4. [Optional step] again, send a GET request to http://{host}/api/modules/

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" "http://{host}/api/modules/"

This time, you will receive something like:

[
  "ModuleOne, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"
]

5. [Optional step] send a GET request to http://{host}/api/articles/

curl -X GET -H "Content-Type: application/json" "http://localhost:49603/api/articles"

This time, you will receive a 200 (OK) status with the following body:

[
  {
    "Id": 101
  },
  {
    "Id": 102
  }
]