ASP.NET Syntax and conventions

Question

I am reading Designing Evolvable Web APIs with ASP.NET. In one of the exercises, the book has me edit a Controller using Visual Studio. This is being done in ASP.NET using C#. The template I used was the standard ASP.NET web application API.

I have edited the controller to the way the book shows (although it does not seem to give very specific directions). Here is what my controller looks like.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Security.Claims;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Http;
using System.Web.Http.ModelBinding;
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity;
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.EntityFramework;
using Microsoft.AspNet.Identity.Owin;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security.Cookies;
using Microsoft.Owin.Security.OAuth;
using WebApplication4.Models;
using WebApplication4.Providers;
using WebApplication4.Results;

namespace WebApplication4.Controllers
{
    public class GreetingController : ApiController
    {
           public string GetGreeting() {
            return "Hello World!";
            }

    }
    public static List<Greeting> _greetings = new List<Greeting>();
    public HttpResponseMessage PostGreeting(Greeting greeting)
    {
        _greetings.Add(greeting);
        var greetingLocation = new Uri(this.Request.RequestUri, "greeting/" + greeting.Name);
        var response = this.Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCodeResult.Created);
        response.Headers.Location = greetingLocation;
        return response;

    }
}

I get errors on:

_greetings: A namespace cannot directly contain members such as fields or methods
PostGreeting: A namespace cannot directly contain members such as fields or methods,
_greetings : does not exist in the current context
Request : <invalid-global-code> does not contain a definition for 'request',
Created: HttpStatusCodeREsult does not contain a definition for 'Created'

Note that your code is not thread-safe and will not work with concurrent requests. — SLaks
– SLaks, Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 1:44
Side note: it is generally good idea to search for error message as someone else before you could have hit similar issue. Generally posts with misplaced braces/commas are closed as "typographical error", but if you don't like that it can be closed as duplicate of one of many "namespace cannot directly contain... " posts like stackoverflow.com/questions/9383791/…. — Alexei Levenkov
– Alexei Levenkov, Commented Aug 21, 2015 at 2:20
@AlexeiLevenkov I don't see this as typographical error as I am not clear on why the brace needs to be moved. From an answer below, I see that the _greetings should be part of the greetingController class, but I do not understand the relationship that is occuring between the class and the list (or code after it). — normandantzig
– normandantzig, Commented Aug 23, 2015 at 2:53

SLaks · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-21 01:44:06Z

14

As the error is trying to tell you, your fields and methods must be inside the class.
Check your braces.

answered Aug 21, 2015 at 1:44

SLaks

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1 Comment

Sharif Over a year ago

+1 accidentally deleted a curly brace and spent some time before I figured out what was the actual problem.

Carlos Aguilar Mares · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-21 01:44:45Z

2

Your _greetings field needs to be part of the class, as well as the PostGreeting method, it seems you just closed "}" of the class a bit early. MOve the "}" before the _greetings field to the end of the file, like:

namespace WebApplication4.Controllers
{
    public class GreetingController : ApiController
    {
           public string GetGreeting() {
            return "Hello World!";
            }

    public static List<Greeting> _greetings = new List<Greeting>();
    public HttpResponseMessage PostGreeting(Greeting greeting)
    {
        _greetings.Add(greeting);
        var greetingLocation = new Uri(this.Request.RequestUri, "greeting/" + greeting.Name);
        var response = this.Request.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCodeResult.Created);
        response.Headers.Location = greetingLocation;
        return response;

    }
}  
}

answered Aug 21, 2015 at 1:44

Carlos Aguilar Mares

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2 Comments

normandantzig Over a year ago

Agular Mares After making the suggested change, all but one error cleared up. I now only have an error with Created: HttpStatusCodeREsult does not contain a definition for 'Created'. On a side note, why does my _greetings field need to be part of the class?

Carlos Aguilar Mares Over a year ago

I think that code is incorrect, my guess is instead you meant: HttpStatusCode.Created. In terms of why _greetings needs to be part, well basically namespaces cannot have any state/data stored in them, they are really just "aliases/suffix-names/container-ishs" for types, so you cannot have state/variables/fields at that level.

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