A framework for building JSON:API compliant REST APIs using ASP.NET Core and Entity Framework Core. Includes support for the Atomic Operations extension.
The ultimate goal of this library is to eliminate as much boilerplate as possible by offering out-of-the-box features, such as sorting, filtering, pagination, sparse fieldset selection, and side-loading related resources. You just need to focus on defining the resources and implementing your custom business logic. This library has been designed around dependency injection, making extensibility incredibly easy.
Note
OpenAPI support is now available, currently in preview. Give it a try!
The following steps describe how to create a JSON:API project.
Create a new ASP.NET Core Web API project:
dotnet new webapi --no-openapi --use-controllers --name ExampleJsonApi cd ExampleJsonApiInstall the JsonApiDotNetCore package, along with your preferred Entity Framework Core provider:
dotnet add package JsonApiDotNetCore dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Sqlite
Declare your entities, annotated with JsonApiDotNetCore attributes:
[Resource]publicclassPerson:Identifiable<long>{[Attr]publicstring?FirstName{get;set;}[Attr]publicstringLastName{get;set;}=null!;[HasMany]publicISet<Person>Children{get;set;}=newHashSet<Person>();}
Define your
DbContext, seeding the database with sample data:publicclassAppDbContext(DbContextOptions<AppDbContext>options):DbContext(options){publicDbSet<Person>People=>Set<Person>();protectedoverridevoidOnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilderbuilder){builder.UseSqlite("Data Source=SampleDb.db");builder.UseAsyncSeeding(async(dbContext,_,cancellationToken)=>{dbContext.Set<Person>().Add(newPerson{FirstName="John",LastName="Doe",Children={newPerson{FirstName="Baby",LastName="Doe"}}});awaitdbContext.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken);});}}
Configure Entity Framework Core and JsonApiDotNetCore in
Program.cs:varbuilder=WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);builder.Services.AddDbContext<AppDbContext>();builder.Services.AddJsonApi<AppDbContext>(options =>{options.UseRelativeLinks=true;options.IncludeTotalResourceCount=true;});varapp=builder.Build();app.UseRouting();app.UseJsonApi();app.MapControllers();awaitCreateDatabaseAsync(app.Services);app.Run();staticasyncTaskCreateDatabaseAsync(IServiceProviderserviceProvider){awaitusingvarscope=serviceProvider.CreateAsyncScope();vardbContext=scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<AppDbContext>();awaitdbContext.Database.EnsureDeletedAsync();awaitdbContext.Database.EnsureCreatedAsync();}
Start your API
dotnet run
Send a GET request to retrieve data:
GET http://localhost:5000/people?filter=equals(firstName,'John')&include=children HTTP/1.1
Expand to view the JSON response
{ "links": { "self": "/people?filter=equals(firstName,%27John%27)&include=children", "first": "/people?filter=equals(firstName,%27John%27)&include=children", "last": "/people?filter=equals(firstName,%27John%27)&include=children" }, "data": [ { "type": "people", "id": "1", "attributes": { "firstName": "John", "lastName": "Doe" }, "relationships": { "children": { "links": { "self": "/people/1/relationships/children", "related": "/people/1/children" }, "data": [ { "type": "people", "id": "2" } ] } }, "links": { "self": "/people/1" } } ], "included": [ { "type": "people", "id": "2", "attributes": { "firstName": "Baby", "lastName": "Doe" }, "relationships": { "children": { "links": { "self": "/people/2/relationships/children", "related": "/people/2/children" } } }, "links": { "self": "/people/2" } } ], "meta": { "total": 1 } }
The following links explain what this project provides, why it exists, and how you can use it.
- What is JSON:API and why should I use it? (blog, 2017)
- Pragmatic JSON:API Design (video, 2017)
- JSON:API and JsonApiDotNetCore (video, 2021)
- JsonApiDotNetCore Release 4.0 (blog, 2020)
- JSON:API, ASP.NET Core, EmberJS (video, 2017)
- The examples directory provides ready-to-run sample API projects, which are documented here.
- The integration tests directory covers many advanced use cases, which are documented here. This includes topics such as batching, multi-tenancy, authorization, soft-deletion, obfuscated IDs, resource inheritance, alternate routing, custom metadata, error handling and logging.
- The Ember.js Todo List App showcases a JsonApiDotNetCore API and an Ember.js client with token authentication.
The following chart should help you pick the best version, based on your environment. See also our versioning policy.
| .NET | Entity Framework Core | JsonApiDotNetCore | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10 | 5.10.0+ | Stable |
| 9 | 9 | 5.5.0+ | Stable |
| 8 | 8, 9 | 5.5.0+ | Stable |
| 7 | 7 | 5.0.3 - 5.6.0 | Out of support |
| 6 | 7 | 5.0.3 - 5.6.0 | Out of support |
| 6 | 6 | 5.0.0 - 5.6.0 | Out of support |
| 5 | 5 | 4.x | Out of support |
| Core 3.1 | 3.1, 5 | 4.x | Out of support |
| Core 2.x | 2.x | 3.x | Out of support |
After each commit to the master branch, a new pre-release NuGet package is automatically published to feedz.io. To try it out, follow the steps below:
Create a
nuget.configfile in the same directory as your .sln file, with the following contents:<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <configuration> <packageSources> <addkey="json-api-dotnet"value="https://f.feedz.io/json-api-dotnet/jsonapidotnetcore/nuget/index.json" /> <addkey="NuGet"value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" /> </packageSources> </configuration>
In your IDE, browse the list of packages from the
json-api-dotnetfeed. Make sure pre-release packages are included in the list.
Have a question, found a bug or want to submit code changes? See our contributing guidelines.
To build the code from this repository locally, run:
dotnet buildRunning tests locally requires access to a PostgreSQL database. If you have docker installed, this can be started via:
pwsh run-docker-postgres.ps1And then to run the tests:
dotnet testAlternatively, to build, run all tests, generate code coverage and NuGet packages:
pwsh Build.ps1We are grateful to the following sponsors, who provide the team with a no-cost license for using their tools.
Do you like this project? Consider to sponsor, or just reward us by giving our repository a star.