Developing with REST APIs and Azure Services

REST APIs

• REST APIs are application programming interfaces that adhere to the constraints of the REST architectural style.
• They allow interaction with RESTful web services.
• URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) are unique identifiers for resources in an API.
• Resources represent data entities exposed by the API.
• Status code 201 (Created) is returned when a resource is successfully created in a RESTful service.

AutoMapper

• To test AutoMapper mappings, create a test, instantiate a bootstrapper class, and call MapperConfiguration.AssertConfigurationIsValid().

Azure Service Fabric

• Azure Service Fabric is a distributed systems platform that simplifies packaging, deployment, and management of scalable and reliable microservices and containers.

CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing)

• CORS is a mechanism used to enable cross-origin requests.
• CORS policies are configured to manage such requests.

HTTP Headers

• HTTP headers contain metadata about requests and responses.
• Headers are crucial in RESTful APIs for defining request/response characteristics, including security and authentication.

Authentication

• Authentication is the process of verifying a user's identity.
• Authentication verifies who a user is and not what they have access to.

Authorization

• Authorization is the process of verifying what a user has access to.
• Authorization checks whether a user is permitted to access a given resource or action.

Data Transfer Objects (DTOs)

• DTOs are classes used to transfer data between different layers or components of an application.
• They encapsulate data needed for various operations within an application.

Content Negotiation and Media Types

• Content Negotiation is used to determine the correct format for the response data, based on requests from clients.
• Media types (MIME types) specify the format of the response, like JSON, XML, or others.

Model Binding

• Model binding is a process in which .NET frameworks map incoming data from HTTP requests to application models (objects).
• Model binding helps in extracting data from various sources (route data, form fields, query strings) to populate models.

OData

• OData (Open Data Protocol) protocol enables clients to query and filter data efficiently, by using a standardized query syntax.
• OData is used to retrieve or update entities, including multiple receivers.
• The use of the filter parameter in OData is an essential tool in managing data.
• OData enables querying/filtering and performing aggregations on data.

HTTP Methods

• HTTP methods are used to specify actions on resources (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).

Docker

• Docker is a containerization platform that allows packaging, deployment, and management of applications and their dependencies.
• Docker simplifies development and deployment of microservices.

gRPC

• gRPC, or Remote Procedure Calls, is a framework for building RPC services.
• gRPC relies on Protocol buffers for message serialization, and communication over HTTP/2.

Validation

• Validation is the use of rules to ensure data integrity.
• An action can have rules to validate the data coming from various sources such as a form, route data, or headers.

Microservices

• Microservices are an architectural approach that breaks a software application into multiple, smaller, independent services.

Async Programming

• Asynchronous programming allows for parallel processing, improving responsiveness and user experience.
• Asynchronous operations enable code to continue execution while waiting for an operation within an application to finish.