Controllers
An Umbraco API Controller is an ASP.NET WebApi controller that is used for creating REST services.
Umbraco contains different types of controllers to perform different tasks:
Render MVC Controllers
When you make a page request to the MVC application, a controller is responsible for returning the response to that request. The controller can perform one or more actions.
By default, all front-end requests to an Umbraco site are auto-routed via the Index action of a core Controller: Umbraco.Cms.Web.Common.Controllers.RenderController.
For details on using Render MVC Controllers, see the Controller & Action Selection article.
Surface Controllers
A SurfaceController is an MVC controller that interacts with the front-end rendering of an UmbracoPage. They can be used for rendering view components and for handling Form data submissions. SurfaceControllers are auto-routed which means you don't have to add/create your own routes for these controllers to work.
All implementations of Surface Controllers inherit from the base class: Umbraco.Cms.Web.Website.Controllers.SurfaceController.
For details on using Surface Controllers, see the Surface Controllers article.
Public API Controllers
A public API Controller is an ASP.NET Core API controller that is used for creating publicly available REST services. For details on implementing public API Controllers, see the Umbraco API Controllers article.
Backoffice API Controllers
Read the Creating a Backoffice API article for a comprehensive guide to writing APIs for the Management API.
The Umbraco Backoffice API is also known as the Management API. Thus, a Backoffice API Controller is often referred to as a Management API Controller.
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