In June, Microsoft announced ASP.NET
Core 1.0 with a number of architectural changes. In addition to being
cross-platform, the completely redesigned edition of ASP.NET further simplifies
development of modern web applications and services by providing a set of new
tooling and features like side-by-side app versioning support, built-in
dependency injection support, and Cloud-ready configuration. Also, it allows
you develop both Web UIs and Web APIs by using a single aligned web stack.
You still have option to use additional
tools to build HTTP based services without putting extra time and effort.
Nancyfx is a lightweight and open source framework, inspired by Sinatra - a
widely used Ruby framework, and designed with features to facilitate
development of HTTP based services on both .NET and Mono. Despite being built
with .NET framework client profile, Nancyfx is designed to run anywhere, be
easy to configure, and provide a super-duper-happy-path to various
interactions. You can always consider using Nancyfx to enhance the
functionality and performance of ASP.NET applications.
10 Reasons
Why You Should Consider Using Nancyfx for ASP.NET Applications
1) No Need to Apply MVC Pattern
You can use Nancyfx for web
applications, web services and web APIs. But Nancyfx does not require you to
implement model-view-controller (MVC) pattern. You can use it as a service end
point to handle varying requests like GET, HEAD, DELETE, PUT, PATCH, POST and
OPTIONS. Also, you can take advantage of the domain specific language (DSL) to
return a response without writing additional code. However, you still have
option to apply MVC pattern to Nancy in a manner similar to ASP.NET MVC.
2) Supports for .NET and Mono
As noted earlier, Nancyfx is designed
with features to simplify development of HTTP based services on both .NET and
Mono. Hence, you can run the lightweight framework on three major platforms –
Windows, Linux and OS X. The compatibility further complements the
cross-platform web application developed with ASP.NET Core 1.0. Also, you can
post the HTTP services from one platform to another without any hassle.
3) Compatible with Embedded Devices
The efficient machine to machine
communication enabled by Internet of Things (IoT) has made it essential for
developers to build web applications and APIs compatible with a variety of
devices. In addition to supporting .NET and Mono, Nancyfx is also compatible
with embedded devices like Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Also, the host-agnostic
nature of the framework enables you to run it in number of ways – run it
through IIS, integrate it with a self hosted application, or embed within an
EXE. Hence, Nancyfx, unlike other full-blown web servers, can be used
efficiently in constrained environments and with embedded devices.
4) Minimal Configuration
You can download and use Nancyfx
directly without worrying about complex configurations. There is no need to
scan through the preset configuration or make changes to complex XML files.
Also, the self-agnostic nature of Nancyfx enables you to run it in varying
environments without modifying the web.config file frequently. Despite being
lightweight, Nancyfx is designed with features to identify and embed new
modules, dependency and components, and change the configuration according.
5) Highly Customizable and Extensible
In addition to being easy to configure,
Nancyfx is both customizable and extensible. You have option to replace
specific parts of the framework according to the requirements of individual
ASP.NET applications. You can further customize Nancyfx by using custom view
renderers, serializers or model binders. Also, you can control the way the
framework handles requests by implementing INancyEngine in your own way. You
also have option to create 3rd party library with extensibility points
generated by modifying behavior of Nancyfx.
6) Keep Your Application Code Clean
The terse syntax provided by Nancyfx
will help to keep the code clean and organized by allowing you to write code
without affecting any aspect of the application. Also, the low ceremony feature
of the framework will enable you to include minimal code in the application.
You can even take advantage of the terse syntax and low ceremony features to
embed functional Nancyfx applications into simple and lightweight web
applications and APIs.
7) Option to Modify Requests and
Responses
Nancyfx allows you to make changes to
both requests and responses before and after invocation. You can take advantage
of pipeline hooks to control the entire communication between the web
application and the server. The feature allows you to make the web application
deliver personalized experience saving key session information of users in the
database. Likewise, you can also use the pipeline hooks to modify the way
request.form is populated on HTTP POST.
8) Library to Test Request/Response
Cycles Fully
ASP.Net
web developers can take
advantage of the built-in testing library included in Nancyfx to evaluate
request and response cycles fully. You can use the library to check if a
request returns the expected model or not. Likewise, you can use the testing
library to check if the response adheres to expected format each time accept
headers are passed into it.
9) Find and Manage Dependency Automatically
Nancyfx makes it easier for you to find
and manage project dependencies automatically through a built-in IOC container
called TinyIOC. You also have option to use TinyIOC t different places in
application lifecycle through the Bootstrapper class. The methods and
properties off the Bootstrapper class further simplifies Nancyfx configuration.
However, you still have option to register and manage project dependencies by
using several widely used IOC containers supported by Nancyfx.
10) No Need for Specific Framework or
Implementation
Often ASP.NET micro-frameworks require
web developers to stick to specific frameworks or implementation. But you can
use Nancyfx without any using any specific frameworks or implementation. Also,
Nancyfx allows you to avail a wide range of plug-ins with additional and
alternative functionality. The framework further builds requests and responses
from the scratch, while keeping each request or response loosely coupled.
Hence, you can easily customize Nancyfx and its components according to
specific needs of each ASP.NET application.
Nancyfx is developed as an open source
framework by the community, and distributed under the MIT license. You have
option to download it from various sources, and access its source code without
any restriction. Hence, you can easily customize Nancyfx according to the
nature and requirements of each ASP.NET application.
