Do I need a Global.asax.cs file at all if I'm using an OWIN Startup.cs class and move all configuration there?

Question

Let\'s say for example in a brand new ASP.NET MVC 5 application made from the MVC with Individual Accounts template, if I delete the Global.asax.cs class and mo

Answer 1

For those looking for the complete steps: If you are looking to create a OWIN based, IIS hosted web API, these steps should get you there:

1. File -> New -> Project
2. In the dialogue, Installed -> templates -> Other Project types -> Visual Studio Solutions -> Blank Solution targeting .NET 4.6

3. On the solution, right click, add Project -> Web -> ASP.NET Web Application (targeting .NET 4.6)

   3.1 Now In the ASP.NET 4.5 templates, choose Empty as the template

   3.2 This creates a blank solution with two nuget packages:

   Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform v 1.0.0
   Microsoft.Net.Compilers v 1.0.0
   

4. Install the following packages:

   Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.WebHost -Version 5.2.3
   Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi -Version 5.2.3
   Install-Package WebApiContrib.Formatting.Razor 2.3.0.0
   

For OWIN:

Install-Package Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb 
Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.OwinSelfHost    

Then add Startup.cs with Configuration method:

[assembly:OwinStartup(typeof(namespace.Startup))]
public class Startup
    {
        /// 
 Configurations the specified application. 
        /// The application.
        public static void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
        {
            var httpConfiguration = CreateHttpConfiguration();

            app
                .UseWebApi(httpConfiguration);
        }

        /// 
 Creates the HTTP configuration. 
        ///  An  to bootstrap the hosted API 
        public static HttpConfiguration CreateHttpConfiguration()
        {
            var httpConfiguration = new HttpConfiguration();
            httpConfiguration.MapHttpAttributeRoutes();

            return httpConfiguration;
        }
}

Now add a class that inherits from ApiController, annotate it with RoutePrefix attribute and the action method with Route + HttpGet/PutPost (representing the Http verb you're after) and you should be good to go