Herding Code 134: Brad Wilson on ASP.NET 4 Beta and ASP.NET Web API

Episode 134

In this episode, Jon talks to Brad Wilson about the ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta release.

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Show Notes:

• Brad starts with a rundown of what was in ASP.NET MVC 4 Developer Preview, including HTML5 Default Template features, Adaptive Rendering, Mobile Template, Display Modes, NuGet package based installation, and Task<T> based Async Controllers.
• Jon asks about the ASP.NET Web API integration. Brad talks about the effort involved and why it's useful.
• Jon asks for clarification as to what ASP.NET Web API offers over hand writing services using ASP.NET MVC.
• Brad talks about Content Negotiation and why it's useful.
• Jon asks about things that Web API has in common with MVC like filters and model binding.
• Jon asks about the testability of Web API. Brad explains that it's much more lightweight and has a lot less use of statics, making it a lot more testable.
• Brad talks about the hosting models for Web API, including both web and selfhost. He explains that it's pluggable, so you can write your own host, and explains the use of HTTP Message Handlers.
• Jon asks about the relation of ASP.NET MVC 4 to .NET 4.5. Brad explains how parts were backported to allow for using .NET 4.5 features on .NET 4.
• Jon asks about the query composition support, which gives support for OData query syntax. Brad explains how it's used, and distinguishes the query syntax from the rest of OData format.
• Brad explains how ASP.NET Web API is the future of WCF Web API, and that the ASP.NET team and WCF teams have merged.
• Brad talks about how Web API can be used outside of ASP.NET. Jon asks how to get Web API into another project type, and Brad talks about installing Web API via NuGet.
• Jon asks for more information about how NuGet is used in the MVC installation system. Brad talks about how NuGet and VSIX can be integrated.
• Jon asks about why NuGet Package Restore is useful.
• Jon notes that creating new projects is slower due to NuGet installation. Brad says this may be improved, but even if it isn't he thinks that the tradeoff is more than worthwhile, since in the real world people aren't creating new projects every day.
• Jon asks for a bit more information about the Display Mode Provider.
• Brad talks about the installation options for ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta and how it relates to the .NET 4.5 developer previews.
• Jon asks about Go Live license, Brad says it's there.
• Jon asks about new features in xUnit.net. Brad talks about the last release and what's in the roadmap for the next release.
• Brad mentions that he'll be speaking at NDC this summer and talks about the Wrox MVC 4 book.

Show Links:

• Brad Wilson - blog, twitter
• ASP.NET MVC 4 Beta info
• xUnit.net
• Henrik's blog