multi-language versioned API

[jsbsantos]

Hello!

I just found out about this repo and was about to test it out on my current project but I can't seem to get thing to work as I want.

I had these routes defined, which I wanted to change so I could use URL path versioning.

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "DefaultApiLocalized",
    routeTemplate: "{language}-{culture}/api/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "DefaultApi",
    routeTemplate: "api/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);

I expected that changing the routes as follows it would still work:

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "DefaultApiLocalized",
    routeTemplate: "{language}/api/v{version:apiVersion}/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "DefaultApi",
    routeTemplate: "api/v{version:apiVersion}/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { id = RouteParameter.Optional, controller = "test" }
);

After reading a bit on past issues I found out that it's not supposed to work. However, I haven't found a way to make this work.

My question is, can I make these routes work:

/api/v1/my
en/api/v1/my

I have tried using this without success.

[RoutePrefix("{language?}api/v{version:apiVersion}/test")]

Thanks.

[commonsensesoftware]

Glad you found the project. Welcome!

I'm a little confused. Are you using attribute or convention-based routing? I see parts of both. I strongly recommend using one or the other. You may go cross-eyed otherwise. There are also some limitations in Web API's routing when both are used.

For a convention-based route, this should work:

config.Routes.MapHttpRoute(
    name: "DefaultApiLocalized",
    routeTemplate: "{language}/api/v{version:apiVersion}/{controller}/{id}",
    defaults: new { language = "en", id = RouteParameter.Optional }
);

I don't recall ever using a default value in a route prefix, but I believe for an attribute-based route, this should work:

[ApiVersion( "1.0" )]
[RoutePrefix("{language=en}/api/v{version:apiVersion}/test")]
public class TestController : ApiController
{
  [Route]
  public IHttpActionResult Get() => Ok();
}

I also noticed in your route prefix that you were missing the / after the {language} route parameter.

I haven't tried these myself, but I suspect they may work. Give it a whirl and let me know.

[jsbsantos]

You're right, it came out a bit confusing. What i meant was that I tested both configurations, but I'm not using them both.

Either way, your suggestions didn't work. It may have something to do with my configuration, I don't know, but we've moved the language parameter to the Accept-Language HTTP header.

Thanks.

[commonsensesoftware]

Sounds good.

I think you made the right decision. The Accept-Language header will give you a lot more flexibility in requests because it supports multiple values with quality. You'll have the option to support language fallback without any changes to the API. :)