Self-Hosting the Telerik Reporting REST Service Web API in a Console Application

ASP.NET Web API does not require IIS. You can self-host a Web API in your own host process. This tutorial shows how to host a Telerik Reporting REST Web API inside a console application. For more information on the hosting options, see: Hosting ASP.NET Web API

To create a self-hosted HTTP service, follow the steps below:

1. On an elevated console (“Run as administrator”), execute the following command, for example, to allow the running user to listen on port 8080:

   netsh http add urlacl url=http://+:8080/ user=DOMAIN\user

2. In Visual Studio, create a “Console Application” project

3. Install the Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.SelfHost 4.0.30506 NuGet package

   The Reporting REST WebAPI Service is built against WebAPI 1. In case you have to use newer version of Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.SelfHost (e.g., WebAPI 2) you have to redirect the System.Web.Http and System.Net.Http.Formatting to their newer version.

   Visual Studio NuGet Package Manager can add the required binding redirects automatically, if you update NuGet packages through it.

   Alternatively, you add the following bindingRedirects to your web.config and replace 5.1.0.0 in the sample code below with the exact version:

   XML

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <configuration>
    <runtime>
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
        <dependentAssembly>
          <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Http" culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
          <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-65535.65535.65535.65535" newVersion="5.1.0.0"/>
        </dependentAssembly>
        <dependentAssembly>
          <assemblyIdentity name="System.Net.Http.Formatting" culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
          <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-65535.65535.65535.65535" newVersion="5.1.0.0"/>
        </dependentAssembly>
      </assemblyBinding>
    </runtime>
   </configuration>

4. Make sure that the project has the following assembly references:

   • System.Web
   • Newtonsoft.Json.dll
   • System.Web.Http.dll
   • System.Web.Http.SelfHost.dll
   • System.Net.Http.dll
   • System.Net.Http.Formatting.dll

5. Implement the reports controller as explained in the article How to implement the ReportsController in an application

6. Implement the starting point of the application:

   C#

   using System;
   using System.Linq;
   using System.Web.Http.SelfHost;
   using Telerik.Reporting.Services.WebApi;
   
   class Program
   {
       static void Main(string[] args)
       {
           var config = new HttpSelfHostConfiguration("http://localhost:8080"); // use appropriate address
   
           ReportsControllerConfiguration.RegisterRoutes(config);
   
           var server = new HttpSelfHostServer(config);
           server.OpenAsync().Wait();
   
           Console.WriteLine("Server is opened");
           Console.ReadKey();
       }
   }

   VB.NET

   Imports System.Web.Http.SelfHost
   Imports Telerik.Reporting.Services.WebApi
   
   Public Class Program
   
       Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
   
           Dim config = New HttpSelfHostConfiguration("http://localhost:8080")
           ' use appropriate address
           ReportsControllerConfiguration.RegisterRoutes(config)
   
           Dim server = New HttpSelfHostServer(config)
           server.OpenAsync().Wait()
   
           Console.WriteLine("Server is opened")
           Console.ReadKey()
       End Sub
   
   End Class

7. Run the console app

8. To verify whether the service works correctly, you can make a sample request for the available document formats using the following URL:

   http://localhost: [portnumber]/api/reports/formats

   If the request succeeds, you should receive the document formats encoded in JSON. For more information, see: Get Available Document Formats.

9. When you are finished self-hosting, be sure to delete the reservation:

   netsh http delete urlacl url=http://+:8080/

See Also

• Localization
• Hosting ASP.NET Web API