IEndpoint

Namespace: RA.Utilities.Api.Abstractions

The primary purpose of the IEndpoint interface is to organize and declutter API endpoint registration in an ASP.NET Core application. As an API grows, defining all the routes directly in the Program.cs file can make it messy and difficult to maintain.

The IEndpoint interface introduces a clean, discoverable pattern to solve this problem by allowing you to group related endpoints into separate, feature-focused files.

⚙️ How It Works

The workflow is straightforward and consists of a few steps:

1. Implement the Interface:

You create a class for a specific feature (e.g., ProductEndpoints) and implement the IEndpoint interface. Inside the required MapEndpoint method, you define all the routes for that feature, just as you would in Program.cs.

// Features/Products/ProductEndpoints.cs
using RA.Utilities.Api.Abstractions;

public class ProductEndpoints : IEndpoint
{
    public void MapEndpoint(IEndpointRouteBuilder app)
    {
        app.MapGet("/products", () =>
        {
            // Logic to get all products
            return Results.Ok("All products");
        });

        app.MapGet("/products/{id}", (int id) => 
        {
            // Logic to get a single product
            return Results.Ok($"Product {id}");
        });
    }
}

2. Discover and Register Endpoints:

In your Program.cs, you call the builder.Services.AddEndpoints() extension method. This method scans your project's assembly for all classes that implement IEndpoint and registers them with the dependency injection container.

3. Map the Routes:

After building the web application (var app = builder.Build();), you call the app.MapEndpoints() extension method. This method retrieves all the registered IEndpoint services and executes their MapEndpoint method, effectively adding all the organized routes to the application.

Here is the corresponding Program.cs setup:

// Program.cs

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Scans the assembly and registers all IEndpoint implementations with DI
builder.Services.AddEndpoints();

var app = builder.Build();

// Executes the MapEndpoint method on all registered implementations
app.MapEndpoints();

app.Run();

By following this pattern, you keep your Program.cs file clean and maintainable, while your endpoint definitions remain neatly organized by feature.