How can I create a search bar that can search through an API and display the data depending on what is typed into the search bar

Question

I am being tasked with creating an ASP.NET Core 6 MVC web app that does the following:

Build an app that allows a user to search through the given API. After searching, display the results and allow a user to click to the corresponding iTunes page. You can search iTunes by using the iTunes Search AP here: https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=
Include a server side component that tracks how many clicks per result are made within the app and a create a view that displays the count of clicks
When the user clicks on a search result, the app should redirect to the album/video/app in the itunes store.

I am new to .NET and C# and would like some guidance on what steps I should take. I have created the web page with basic HTML and am now stuck on the backend side. I am going to be using the MVC design pattern so I understand that I will need a model and a controller but am not sure what to do. Can anyone help me at all on how I can go about solving this? I will share all the code I have so far along with my frontend.

Model folder - ItunesSearchResults.cs:

namespace ReachMobieItunesMVC.Models;

/// 
/// Retrieves data from API.
/// 
/// 
public class ItunesSearchResults
{
    public int resultCount { get; set; }
    public List results { get; set; }
}

public class GroupedResult
{
    public int TotalCount { get; set; }
    public string Type { get; set; }
    public List results { get; set; }
}

public class Result
{
    public string wrapperType { get; set; }
    public string kind { get; set; }
    public int collectionId { get; set; }
    public int trackId { get; set; }
    public string artistName { get; set; }
    public string collectionName { get; set; }
    public string trackName { get; set; }
    public string collectionCensoredName { get; set; }
    public string trackCensoredName { get; set; }
    public int collectionArtistId { get; set; }
    public string collectionArtistViewUrl { get; set; }
    public string collectionViewUrl { get; set; }
    public string trackViewUrl { get; set; }
    public string previewUrl { get; set; }
    public string artworkUrl30 { get; set; }
    public string artworkUrl60 { get; set; }
    public string artworkUrl100 { get; set; }
    public double collectionPrice { get; set; }
    public double trackPrice { get; set; }
    public double trackRentalPrice { get; set; }
    public double collectionHdPrice { get; set; }
    public double trackHdPrice { get; set; }
    public double trackHdRentalPrice { get; set; }
    public DateTime releaseDate { get; set; }
    public string collectionExplicitness { get; set; }
    public string trackExplicitness { get; set; }
    public int discCount { get; set; }
    public int discNumber { get; set; }
    public int trackCount { get; set; }
    public int trackNumber { get; set; }
    public int trackTimeMillis { get; set; }
    public string country { get; set; }
    public string currency { get; set; }
    public string primaryGenreName { get; set; }
    public string contentAdvisoryRating { get; set; }
    public string shortDescription { get; set; }
    public string longDescription { get; set; }
    public bool hasITunesExtras { get; set; }
    public int? artistId { get; set; }
    public string artistViewUrl { get; set; }
    public bool? isStreamable { get; set; }
    public string description { get; set; }
    public string copyright { get; set; }
    public int? amgArtistId { get; set; }
    public string collectionArtistName { get; set; }
}

API folder - ItunesSearchAPI.cs:

using System.Globalization;
using System.Net;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
using ReachMobieItunesMVC.Models;

namespace ReachMobieItunesMVC.API;

public class ItunesSearchAPI
{
    public static List Search(string Term)
    {
        try
        {
            //Making Web Request
            ItunesSearchResults res = new ItunesSearchResults();
            string BaseURL = "https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=";
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(BaseURL + Term);
            request.Method = "GET";
            request.Headers.Add("cache-control", "no-cache");
            request.AutomaticDecompression = DecompressionMethods.Deflate | DecompressionMethods.GZip;
            request.ContentType = "application/json";
                
            //Getting Response from Web Request
            HttpWebResponse response = (HttpWebResponse)request.GetResponse();

            string content = string.Empty;

            using (Stream stream = response.GetResponseStream())
            {
                using (StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(stream))
                {
                    content = sr.ReadToEnd();
                    //Serializing the Response to Object.
                    res =JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(content);
                }
            }

            // To capitalize the group key.
            TextInfo textInfo = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture.TextInfo;

            return res.results
                      .GroupBy(t => t.kind == null ? t.wrapperType : t.kind)
                      .Select(t => new GroupedResult() { Type = textInfo.ToTitleCase(t.Key.ToString())+"s", results = t.ToList(), TotalCount = res.resultCount })
                      .ToList();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            throw ex;
        }
    }
}

In my controller class I was looking around the web and found that people make a folder called DataAccess that contains files with extensions .tt and .edmx (which I believe has been replaced) and I think that is for database purposes. Is this necessary according to my requirements? I was under the assumption that a database wouldn't be needed as the data is all in the API and we are just pulling from it. However, I know that I need to display a count of clicks per result but am not sure what these file extensions are for and how to use them. Anyways, any assistance would be appreciated.

HomeController.cs:

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

namespace ItunesSearch.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            ViewBag.SearchCounts = new DataAccess.ItunesSearchDBEntities().SearchCounts.OrderByDescending(a => a.Count).Take(25).ToList();
            return View();
        }

        [HttpGet]
        public ActionResult Search(string Term)
        {
            try
            {
                var result = SearchAPI.ItunesAPI.Search(Term);

                ViewBag.value = Term;
                return View(result);
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }

        [HttpGet]
        public ActionResult CountAndGO(string URL, string SearchTerm)
        {
            DataAccess.ItunesSearchDBEntities db = new DataAccess.ItunesSearchDBEntities();

            //Finding the term in database.
            var _term = db.SearchCounts.Where(a => a.Term == SearchTerm.ToLower()).FirstOrDefault();

            if (_term != null)
            {
                //If term is present Count is added
                _term.Count++;
                db.Entry(_term).State = System.Data.EntityState.Modified;
            }
            else
            {
                //Term is saved in database
                db.SearchCounts.Add(new DataAccess.SearchCount() { Term = SearchTerm.ToLower(), Count = 1 });
            }

            db.SaveChanges();

            if (URL == null || URL == "")
               return RedirectToAction("NoURL");

            return Redirect(URL);
        }

        public ActionResult NoURL()
        {
            return View();
        }
    }
}

How can I create a search bar that can search through an API and display the data depending on what is typed into the search bar

0 Answers