Creating a backoffice API

In this article, you will learn how to create your own API in the Umbraco backoffice. This is a great way to extend the functionality of the Umbraco backoffice and create custom endpoints for your use.

The end result for this article is to create a custom API called "My item API" in the Management API found at /umbraco/swagger/.

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.

Creating the class

To create a custom API, you need to create a class that inherits from Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Controllers.ManagementApiControllerBase.

The ManagementApiControllerBase serves as the foundation for your custom API class. It provides essential functionalities and utilities required for managing APIs within the Umbraco backoffice environment.

We also use the VersionedApiBackOfficeRoute attribute to define the route for our API. This attribute takes a string parameter that defines the route for the API. This route will be appended to the base route for the backoffice API.

MyItemApiController.cs

[VersionedApiBackOfficeRoute("my/item")]
[ApiExplorerSettings(GroupName = "My item API")]
public class MyItemApiController : ManagementApiControllerBase
{
}

Retrieving all items

Now that we have our class set up, we can add an action to get all items. We will use the HttpGet attribute to define the HTTP method and route for the action.

The AllItems field is an in-memory list of items to simulate the use of a repository. We use the skip & take parameters here, so users of this endpoint can implement paging. We also use the PagedViewModel to return the given items (10 by default), and then the total number of items.

MyItemApiController.cs

[HttpGet]
public IActionResult GetAllItems(int skip = 0, int take = 10)
    => Ok(
        new PagedViewModel<MyItem>
        {
            Items = AllItems.Skip(skip).Take(take),
            Total = AllItems.Count
        }
    );

AllItems is a local list:

MyItemApiController.cs

private static readonly List<MyItem> AllItems = Enumerable.Range(1, 100)
        .Select(i => new MyItem($"My Item #{i}"))
        .ToList();

The model for MyItem is a basic class with an Id and a Value property.

MyItem.cs

public class MyItem(string value)
{
    public Guid Id { get; } = Guid.NewGuid();

    public string Value { get; set; } = value;
}

Retrieving a single item

We can now create some logic to return a response based on the ID. The route parameter {id:guid} specifies that the id parameter should be a GUID. Here we're creating a local in-memory list of items and returning the item with the matching ID.

To note here is the use of the OperationStatusResult method. This method allows you to return a response with a status code and a body. This is useful for returning error responses with additional information.

The method also needs an enum operationStatus, as it will be attached to the response. This is a basic example, however, this OperationStatus would be returned from your service layer, based on the error in the service layer method.

MyItemApiController.cs

[HttpGet("{id:guid}")]
public IActionResult GetItem(Guid id)
{
    MyItem? item = AllItems.FirstOrDefault(item => item.Id == id);

    return item is not null
        ? Ok(item)
        : OperationStatusResult(
            MyItemOperationStatus.NotFound,
            builder => NotFound(
                builder
                    .WithTitle("That thing wasn't there")
                    .WithDetail("Maybe look for something else?")
                    .Build()
            )
        );
}

MyItemOperationStatus.cs

public enum MyItemOperationStatus
{
    NotFound,
    InvalidValue,
    DuplicateValue
}

Creating a new item

We can now add an action to create a new item. We use the HttpPost attribute to define the HTTP method and route for the action. Here we can see some validation logic.

If the value does not start with "New", we return a BadRequest response with an error message. This highlights why we use the OperationStatusResult method. We can return a detailed response.

We also use CreatedAtId<MyItemApiController>, a helper method to create a response with a 201 Created status code and a Location header.

MyItemApiController.cs

[HttpPost]
public IActionResult CreateItem(string value)
{
    if (value.StartsWith("New") is false)
    {
        return OperationStatusResult(
            MyItemOperationStatus.InvalidValue,
            builder => BadRequest(
                builder
                    .WithTitle("That was invalid")
                    .Build()
            )
        );
    }

    if (AllItems.Any(item => item.Value.InvariantEquals(value)))
    {
        return OperationStatusResult(
            MyItemOperationStatus.DuplicateValue,
            builder => BadRequest(
                builder
                    .WithTitle("No duplicate values, please.")
                    .Build()
            )
        );
    }

    var newItem = new MyItem(value);
    AllItems.Add(newItem);
    return CreatedAtId<MyItemApiController>(
        ctrl => nameof(ctrl.GetItem),
        newItem.Id
    );
}

Updating an item

Now we can add an action to update an item. We can use the HttpPut attribute to define the HTTP method and route for the action.

MyItemApiController.cs

[HttpPut("{id:guid}")]
public IActionResult UpdateItem(Guid id, string value)
{
    MyItem? item = AllItems.FirstOrDefault(item => item.Id == id);
    if (item is null)
    {
        return OperationStatusResult(
            MyItemOperationStatus.NotFound,
            builder => NotFound(
                builder
                    .WithTitle("That thing wasn't there")
                    .WithDetail("Maybe look for something else?")
                    .Build()
            )
        );
    }

    if (AllItems.Any(i => i.Value.InvariantEquals(value)))
    {
        return OperationStatusResult(
            MyItemOperationStatus.DuplicateValue,
            builder => BadRequest(
                builder
                    .WithTitle("You have been DUPED")
                    .Build()
            )
        );
    }

    item.Value = value;
    return Ok();
}

Deleting an item

Finally, we can add an action to delete an item. We can use the HttpDelete attribute to define the HTTP method and route for the action.

MyItemApiController.cs

[HttpDelete("{id:guid}")]
public IActionResult DeleteItem(Guid id)
{
    MyItem? item = AllItems.FirstOrDefault(item => item.Id == id);

    if (item is null)
    {
        return OperationStatusResult(
            MyItemOperationStatus.NotFound,
            builder => NotFound(
                builder
                    .WithTitle("That thing wasn't there")
                    .WithDetail("Maybe look for something else?")
                    .Build()
            )
        );
    }

    AllItems.Remove(item);
    return Ok();
}

Now we have created the custom API for our Umbraco project. Below you can see the full example of the implementation.

Full implementation

MyItemApiController.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
using Umbraco.Cms.Api.Common.Attributes;
using Umbraco.Cms.Api.Common.ViewModels.Pagination;
using Umbraco.Cms.Api.Management.Controllers;
using Umbraco.Cms.Api.Management.Routing;

namespace UmbracoDocs.Samples;

[VersionedApiBackOfficeRoute("my/item")]
[ApiExplorerSettings(GroupName = "My item API")]
public class MyItemApiController : ManagementApiControllerBase
{
    private static readonly List<MyItem> AllItems = Enumerable.Range(1, 100)
        .Select(i => new MyItem($"My Item #{i}"))
        .ToList();

    [HttpGet]
    public IActionResult GetAllItems(int skip = 0, int take = 10)
        => Ok(
            new PagedViewModel<MyItem>
            {
                Items = AllItems.Skip(skip).Take(take),
                Total = AllItems.Count
            }
        );

    [HttpGet("{id:guid}")]
    public IActionResult GetItem(Guid id)
    {
        MyItem? item = AllItems.FirstOrDefault(item => item.Id == id);

        return item is not null
            ? Ok(item)
            : OperationStatusResult(
                MyItemOperationStatus.NotFound,
                builder => NotFound(
                    builder
                        .WithTitle("That thing wasn't there")
                        .WithDetail("Maybe look for something else?")
                        .Build()
                )
            );
    }

    [HttpPost]
    public IActionResult CreateItem(string value)
    {
        if (value.StartsWith("New") is false)
        {
            return OperationStatusResult(
                MyItemOperationStatus.InvalidValue,
                builder => BadRequest(
                    builder
                        .WithTitle("That was invalid")
                        .Build()
                )
            );
        }

        if (AllItems.Any(item => item.Value.InvariantEquals(value)))
        {
            return OperationStatusResult(
                MyItemOperationStatus.DuplicateValue,
                builder => BadRequest(
                    builder
                        .WithTitle("No duplicate values, please.")
                        .Build()
                )
            );
        }

        var newItem = new MyItem(value);
        AllItems.Add(newItem);
        return CreatedAtId<MyItemApiController>(
            ctrl => nameof(ctrl.GetItem),
            newItem.Id
        );
    }

    [HttpPut("{id:guid}")]
    public IActionResult UpdateItem(Guid id, string value)
    {
        MyItem? item = AllItems.FirstOrDefault(item => item.Id == id);
        if (item is null)
        {
            return OperationStatusResult(
                MyItemOperationStatus.NotFound,
                builder => NotFound(
                    builder
                        .WithTitle("That thing wasn't there")
                        .WithDetail("Maybe look for something else?")
                        .Build()
                )
            );
        }

        if (AllItems.Any(i => i.Value.InvariantEquals(value)))
        {
            return OperationStatusResult(
                MyItemOperationStatus.DuplicateValue,
                builder => BadRequest(
                    builder
                        .WithTitle("You have been DUPED")
                        .Build()
                )
            );
        }

        item.Value = value;
        return Ok();
    }

    [HttpDelete("{id:guid}")]
    public IActionResult DeleteItem(Guid id)
    {
        MyItem? item = AllItems.FirstOrDefault(item => item.Id == id);

        if (item is null)
        {
            return OperationStatusResult(
                MyItemOperationStatus.NotFound,
                builder => NotFound(
                    builder
                        .WithTitle("That thing wasn't there")
                        .WithDetail("Maybe look for something else?")
                        .Build()
                )
            );
        }

        AllItems.Remove(item);
        return Ok();
    }
}

public class MyItem(string value)
{
    public Guid Id { get; } = Guid.NewGuid();

    public string Value { get; set; } = value;
}

public enum MyItemOperationStatus
{
    NotFound,
    InvalidValue,
    DuplicateValue
}