With .net 4.0/Preview kit 2, we can generate help pages for WCF REST.
Is there anyway we can do the same for MVC ?
www.somewebsite.com/search/help
I can create help pages (views) and expose them.
I can generate XSD schema and spit out as xml.
Any other guidance/suggestions ?
I want to generate something similar to this.
UriTemplate http://somewebsite.com/Search/
Method PUT
Response Format Xml
Response Schema http://somewebsite.com/help/response/schema
Response Example http://somewebsite.com/help/response/example
Update:
I was able to create documentation by using below code.
Route : somewebsite.com/Media/
HelpRoute : somewebsite.com/Media/Help (Append help to the parent route)
Add routes accordingly. See below example.
routes.MapRoute("Search",
"Search/Quick/",
new { controller = "Search", action = "Search" },
new { httpMethod = new HttpMethodConstraint("PUT") }
);
routes.MapRoute("SearchHelp",
"Search/Quick/Help",
new { controller = "Search", action = "Search" },
new { helpConstraint = new HelpConstraint { Help = true, SampleType = typeof(Search) } }
);
public class HelpResult : ViewResult
{
private string HelpPage { get; set; }
private string folderName = "HelpFiles";
private HttpServerUtilityBase server { get; set; }
private Type sampleType { get; set; }
private string schemaName { get; set; }
const string htmlFormat =
@"
<html>
<head>
<title>Help</title>
</head>
<body>
<li>URL - {0}</li>
<li>Verb - {1}</li>
{2}
</body>
</html>
";
public override void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context)
{
server = context.HttpContext.Server;
StringBuilder parentUrl = new StringBuilder();
var data = context.RouteData.Route.GetRouteData(context.HttpContext);
//Getting requested route url.
string url = ((Route)(data.Route)).Url;
//Getting parent route from requested route url by removing "Help" from the route.
string newUrl = url.Substring(0, url.Length - 4);
parentUrl.Append("/" + newUrl);
sampleType = data.GetSampleType();
var validVerbs = GetValidVerbs(MakeAppRelative(parentUrl.ToString()));
CreateSchema(sampleType, true);
HelpPage = string.Format(htmlFormat, newUrl, validVerbs, CreateInputSampleText());
context.HttpContext.Response.Output.Write(HelpPage);
}
private string CreateInputSampleText()
{
if (sampleType != null && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(sampleType.Name))
{
string sampleText =
@"<li>Input Sample Xml - <a href='\HelpFiles\{0}.xml'>Click Here</a></li>
<li>Input Sample Json - <a href='\HelpFiles\{0}.txt'>Click Here</a></li>
<li>Input Schema - <a href='\HelpFiles\{1}'>Click Here</a></li>";
sampleText = string.Format(sampleText, sampleType.Name, schemaName);
return sampleText;
}
return string.Empty;
}
private static string MakeAppRelative(string url)
{
if (!url.StartsWith("~"))
{
if (!url.StartsWith("/"))
url = "~/" + url;
else
url = "~" + url;
}
return url;
}
private static string GetValidVerbs(string Url)
{
StringBuilder validVerbs = new StringBuilder();
var httpMethodOptions = new[] { "GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE", "HEAD" };
foreach (var httpMethodOption in httpMethodOptions)
{
var fakeContext = new FakeHttpContext(MakeAppRelative(Url), httpMethodOption);
foreach (Route route in RouteTable.Routes)
{
var rd = route.GetRouteData(fakeContext);
if (rd != null)
{
bool errorControllerApplied = route.IsErrorController();
if (!errorControllerApplied)
{
validVerbs.Append(httpMethodOption);
}
}
}
}
return validVerbs.ToString();
}
private void CreateFile(Type type, Stream stream)
{
using (Stream inputStream = stream)
{
schemaName = sampleType + "Schema.xml";
string folder = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(server.MapPath("~"), folderName));
string file = Path.Combine(folder, schemaName);
if (!Directory.Exists(folder))
Directory.CreateDirectory(folder);
using (FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(file, FileMode.Create))
{
byte[] fileContent = new byte[inputStream.Length];
inputStream.Read(fileContent, 0, fileContent.Length);
fileStream.Write(fileContent, 0, fileContent.Length);
fileStream.Flush();
}
}
}
private void CreateSchema(Type type, bool isXmlSerializerType)
{
System.Collections.IEnumerable schemas;
if (isXmlSerializerType)
{
XmlReflectionImporter importer = new XmlReflectionImporter();
XmlTypeMapping typeMapping = importer.ImportTypeMapping(type);
XmlSchemas s = new XmlSchemas();
XmlSchemaExporter exporter = new XmlSchemaExporter(s);
exporter.ExportTypeMapping(typeMapping);
schemas = s.GetSchemas(null);
}
else
{
XsdDataContractExporter exporter = new XsdDataContractExporter();
exporter.Export(type);
schemas = exporter.Schemas.Schemas();
}
using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
{
XmlWriterSettings xws = new XmlWriterSettings() { Indent = true };
using (XmlWriter w = XmlWriter.Create(stream, xws))
{
w.WriteStartElement("Schemas");
foreach (XmlSchema schema in schemas)
{
if (schema.TargetNamespace != "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema")
{
schema.Write(w);
}
}
}
stream.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.Begin);
CreateFile(type, stream);
}
}
public static class RouteDataExtensions
{
public static bool IsHelpConstraintApplied(this RouteData data)
{
if (data != null && data.Route != null)
{
var constraints = ((Route) (data.Route)).Constraints;
var helpConstraint = (from c in constraints.Values
where c.GetType().Equals(typeof (HelpConstraint))
select c).FirstOrDefault();
if (helpConstraint != null)
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
public static Type GetSampleType(this RouteData data)
{
if (data != null && data.Route != null)
{
var constraints = ((Route)(data.Route)).Constraints;
var helpConstraint = (from c in constraints.Values
where c.GetType().Equals(typeof(HelpConstraint))
select c).FirstOrDefault();
if (helpConstraint != null)
{
return ((HelpConstraint) helpConstraint).SampleType;
}
}
return null;
}
public static string GetMethodType(this RouteData data)
{
if (data != null && data.Route != null)
{
var constraints = ((Route) (data.Route)).Constraints;
var httpMethodConstraint = (from c in constraints.Values
where c.GetType().Equals(typeof (HttpMethodConstraint))
select c).FirstOrDefault();
if (httpMethodConstraint != null)
{
return ((HttpMethodConstraint) httpMethodConstraint).AllowedMethods.Single();
}
}
return null;
}
public static bool IsErrorController(this Route data)
{
if (data != null)
{
var defaults = ((Route)(data)).Defaults;
var controllerName = (from c in defaults.Values
where c.ToString().Contains("Error")
select c).FirstOrDefault();
if (controllerName != null)
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
public static RouteData GetRouteDataByUrl(this string url)
{
string httpMethod = "PUT";
var fakeContext = new FakeHttpContext(MakeAppRelative(url), httpMethod);
return RouteTable.Routes.GetRouteData(fakeContext);
}
private static string MakeAppRelative(string url)
{
if (!url.StartsWith("~"))
{
if (!url.StartsWith("/"))
url = "~/" + url;
else
url = "~" + url;
}
return url;
}
}
public class HelpConstraint : IRouteConstraint
{
public bool Help { get; set; }
public Type SampleType { get; set; }
public bool Match(HttpContextBase httpContext, Route route, string parameterName, RouteValueDictionary values, RouteDirection routeDirection)
{
if(Help)
{
return true;
}
return false;
}
}
References
http://stephenwalther.com/blog/archive/2008/08/03/asp-net-mvc-tip-29-build-a-controller-to-debug-your-custom-routes.aspx
http://aspnet.codeplex.com/releases/view/24644
This code is not bug free. Please post improvements if you have any. Use it at your own risk.
