This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(25.6, 94%, 12%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EMW%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
is it possible to develop REST api by winform application C#? Or I am forced to use asp.net or web to develop?
Thank you
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(64, 85%, 16%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EJX%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Hi @Martin Wang ,Welcome to Microsoft Q&A,
There is a very lightweight approach that is suitable for small REST APIs without complex requirements. But it lacks many features provided by ASP.NET Core (such as routing and middleware)
You can develop REST APIs in WinForms applications using C#.
var listener = new HttpListener();
listener.Prefixes.Add("http://localhost:5000/");
listener.Start();
listener.BeginGetContext(async (ar) =>
{
var context = listener.EndGetContext(ar);
var request = context.Request;
var response = context.Response;
// Process the request and prepare a response
string responseString = "Hello from WinForms REST API";
byte[] buffer = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(responseString);
response.ContentLength64 = buffer.Length;
await response.OutputStream.WriteAsync(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
response.OutputStream.Close();
}, null);
Best Regards,
Jiale
If the answer is the right solution, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.
REST API is a backend service hosted in/as a web server, while WinForms is a frontend / GUI for user interaction.
You could mix it, but don't make sense.