C#: Controller vs ControllerBase

C#: Controller vs ControllerBase

The main difference between the Controller and ControllerBase classes in C# ASP.NET Core is that Controller is a higher-level class that inherits from ControllerBase. The Controller class includes additional functionality such as render views, JSON helpers, and action filters. On the other hand, the ControllerBase class provides the basic functionality for handling HTTP requests such as access to underlying HTTP context, request, response and URL.

ControllerBase

ControllerBase is a class in the C# ASP.NET Core framework that provides the basic functionality for handling HTTP requests such as access to the underlying HTTP context, request, response, routing information, and URL generation functionality. It does not include additional features such as View support and TempData, which are provided by the Controller class. It can be extended to include additional functionality if required, and it's a good choice when you want to create a custom controller class by inheriting from it.

Controller

The Controller class is a unified class created by ASP.NET Core, combining the Controller, ApiController, and AsyncController base classes from MVC5 and Web API 2.2.

The table below summarizes key features that Controller supports but ControllerBase doesn't.

Controller vs ControllerBase Examples

Web API

Here is a code example of a simple web API controller using the ControllerBase class in C# ASP.NET Core:

[ApiController]
[Route("api/[controller]")]
public class MyApiController : ControllerBase
{
    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult GetData(int id)
    {
        var data = new { id = id, name = "Your Name" };
        return Ok(data);
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public IActionResult AddData([FromBody] MyData model)
    {
        // Perform logic to add data
        return CreatedAtAction(nameof(GetData), new { id = model.Id }, model);
    }
}

Action Filters

Action filters are a great example of when to use Controller class over ControllerBase class.

In the example below, we use OnActionExecuting method to log the action name. OnActionExecuting is executed before the action method.

public class MyCustomController : Controller
{
    public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
    {
        var actionName = context.ActionDescriptor.DisplayName;
        Console.WriteLine(actionName);
    }
    public IActionResult MyAction()
    {
        // Action logic here
        return Ok();
    }
}