Introducing Lullaby
Lullaby is an open source attribute-based REST API for building REST services on the .NET platform. There is an early beta available for download at http://code.google.com/p/ryanolshanrest. Portions of the code are based on REST.NET (http://code.google.com/restdotnet).
Creating a REST Enabled Service
Create an web handler that inherits from Lullaby.RestHandler and register the web handler in Web.config.
public class RestServices : RestHandler
{
}
<add verb="*" path="RestServices.ashx" type="RestTest.RestServices, RestTest" />
Add the RestAssemblyAttribute to the assembly. By default, only assemblies in the websites bin folder with this attribute are searched.
[assembly: RestAssembly]
Create a class using the RestClassAttribute and RestMethodAttribute attributes. On the RestMethodAttribute, set the URL template and HTTP method.
[RestClass("User")]
public class User
{
public string FirstName { get; set; }
public string LastName { get; set; }
public int UserID { get; set; }
[RestMethod("/{userid}", HttpMethods.Method.GET)]
public User GetUser(int userid)
{
return new User() { FirstName = "Bob", LastName = "Smith", UserID = userid };
}
}
The GET method on the above example would be accessable via http://domain.com/RestHandler.ashx/User/12, for example, if you were passing in a userid of 12.
[RestClass]
If no value is supplied to the constructor of the RestClassAttribute, it will use the name of the class as a default value and as such the above example would be accessable via http://domain.com/RestHandler.ashx/User/12, for example, if you were passing in a userid of 12.
To specify that no prefix should be generated for the REST class from the RestClassAttribute, pass false into the constructor.
[RestClass(false)]
Now the GET method will be accessable via http://domain.com/RestHandler.ashx/12, for example, if you were passing in a userid of 12.
The following settings are available for Lullaby's custom configuration section.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="restSettings" type="Lullaby.ConfigurationHandler.RestConfigurationSection, Lullaby" />
</configSections>
<restSettings>
<caching cacheDuration="60" providerType="Lullaby.Caching.FileCacheProvider, Lullaby" fileCacheProviderFileLocation="C:\LullabyCache" />
<serialization defaultProviderType="Lullaby.Serializers.XmlSerializer, Lullaby" />
<restAssemblies>
<add assembly="MyRestAssembly1" />
<add assembly="MyRestAssembly2" />
</restAssemblies>
<restAssemblyDirectories>
<add directory="c:\MyDirectory1" searchSubFolders="false" />
<add directory="c:\MyDirectory2" searchSubFolders="true" />
</restAssemblyDirectories>
</restSettings>
</configuration>
caching - Element for the caching provider that Lullaby uses. Lullaby has two built in cache providers:
- Lullaby.Caching.FileCacheProvider - Provider for caching to disk. When using this provider, you need to specify the cache directory using fileCacheProviderFileLocation.
- Lullaby.Caching.MemoryCacheProvider - Provider for caching to memory
To create a cache provider, extend Lullaby.Caching.CacheProviderBase.
serialization - Element for setting the default serializer that Lullaby uses if it's unable to deduce a request type. Lullaby has two built in serializers:
- Lullaby.Serializers.JsonSerializer
- Lullaby.Serializers.XmlSerializer
To create an XML serialization provider, implement the interface Lullaby.Serializers.ISerializationProvider.
restAssemblies - Element for specifying additional assemblies to search. This allows Lullaby to search assemblies not marked with the RestAssemblyAttribute and assemblies in the GAC.
restAssebmlyFolders - Element for specifying additional folders for Lullaby to search for assemblies in. To search sub folders within the folder, set searchSubFolders to true.
That's Lullaby in a nutshell. If you have any bugs or feedback, you can contact me at ryan [at] ryanolshan [dot] com.
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