ASP.NET Advanced Generic Handler ASHX

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Web.SessionState;

namespace App.Utilities.Web.Handlers
{
	public abstract partial class BaseHandler : IHttpHandler, IRequiresSessionState
	{

		private HttpContext _context = null;
		public HttpContext context
		{
			get { return _context; }
			private set { _context = value; }
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Method used to handle the request as a normal ASHX.
		/// To use this method just pass handlerequest=true on the request query string.
		/// </summary>
		/// <param name="context"></param>
		public virtual void HandleRequest() { }

		public void ProcessRequest(HttpContext context)
		{
			this.context = context;

			string handleRequest = context.Request["handlerequest"];
			if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(handleRequest) && handleRequest.ToLower() == "true")
			{
				HandleRequest();
				return;
			}

			var ajaxCall = new AjaxCallSignature(context);

			context.Response.ContentType = string.Empty;
			if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(ajaxCall.returnType))
			{
				switch (ajaxCall.returnType)
				{
					case "json":
						context.Response.ContentType = "application/json";
						break;
					case "xml":
						context.Response.ContentType = "application/xml";
						break;
					case "jpg":
					case "jpeg":
					case "image/jpg":
						context.Response.ContentType = "image/jpg";
						break;
					default:
						break;
				}
			}

			// call the requested method
			var result = ajaxCall.Invoke(this, context);

			// if neither on the arguments or the actual method the content type was set then make sure to use the default content type
			if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(context.Response.ContentType) && !SkipContentTypeEvaluation)
			{
				context.Response.ContentType = DefaultContentType();
			}

			// only skip transformations if the requestor explicitly said so
			if (result == null)
			{
				context.Response.Write(string.Empty);
			}
			else if (!SkipDefaultSerialization)
			{
				switch (context.Response.ContentType.ToLower())
				{
					case "application/json":
						JavaScriptSerializer jsonSerializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
						string json = jsonSerializer.Serialize(result);
						context.Response.Write(json);
						break;
					case "application/xml":
						System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer(result.GetType());
						StringBuilder xmlSb = new StringBuilder();
						System.Xml.XmlWriter xmlWriter = System.Xml.XmlWriter.Create(xmlSb);
						xmlSerializer.Serialize(xmlWriter, result);
						context.Response.Write(xmlSb.ToString());
						break;
					case "text/html":
						context.Response.Write(result);
						break;
					default:
						throw new Exception(string.Format("Unsuported content type [{0}]", context.Response.ContentType));
				}
			}
			else
			{
				context.Response.Write(result);
			}
		}

		public bool IsReusable
		{
			get
			{
				return false;
			}
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Returns the default content type returned by the handler.
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public virtual string DefaultContentType()
		{ 
			return "application/json";
		}

		/// <summary>
		/// Setting this to false will make the handler to respond with exacly what the called method returned.
		/// If true the handler will try to serialize the content based on the ContentType set.
		/// </summary>
		public bool SkipDefaultSerialization { get; set; }

		/// <summary>
		/// Setting this to true will avoid the handler to change the content type wither to its default value or to its specified value on the request.
		/// This is useful if you're handling the request yourself and need to specify it yourself.
		/// </summary>
		public bool SkipContentTypeEvaluation { get; set; }

		/// <summary>
		/// Prints an help page discribng the available methods on this handler.
		/// </summary>
		/// <returns></returns>
		public string Help()
		{
			context.Response.ContentType = "text/html";

			StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();

			sb.AppendLine("<style>");
			sb.AppendLine(".MainHeader { background-color: FFFFE0; border: 1px dashed red; padding: 0 10 0 10; }");
			sb.AppendLine("h3 { background-color: #DCDCDC; }");
			sb.AppendLine("ul { background-color: #FFFFFF; }");
			sb.AppendLine(".type { color: gray; }");
			sb.AppendLine("</style>");

			sb.AppendLine("<div class='MainHeader'><h2>Handler available methods</h2></div>");

			MethodInfo[] methods = this.GetType().GetMethods();	// All methods found on this type
			MethodInfo[] excludeMethods = this.GetType().BaseType.GetMethods();	// methods from the base class are not to be shown

			foreach (var m in methods)
			{
				// do nothing if the current method belongs to the base type.
				// I'm not supporting overrides here, I'm only searching by name, if mothe than one method with the same name exist they all will be ignored.
				if (excludeMethods.FirstOrDefault(c => c.Name == m.Name) != null)
					continue;

				ParameterInfo[] parameters = m.GetParameters();

				bool RequiresAuthentication = false;
				object[] attrs = m.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(RequireAuthenticationAttribute), true);
				if (attrs != null && attrs.Length > 0)
				{
					RequiresAuthentication = ((RequireAuthenticationAttribute)attrs[0]).RequireAuthentication;
				}

				sb.AppendLine("<h3>" + m.Name + (RequiresAuthentication ? " <span style=\"color:#f00\">[Requires Authentication]</span>" : string.Empty) + "</h3>");

				sb.AppendLine("<table><tr><td width=\"250px\">");
				sb.AppendLine("<table width=\"100%\">");
				foreach (var p in parameters)
				{
					sb.AppendLine("<tr><td>" + p.Name + "</td><td><span class='type'>[" + p.ParameterType.ToString() + "]</span></td></tr>");
				}

				sb.AppendLine("</table>");
			
				sb.AppendLine("</td><td style=\"border-left: 1px dashed #DCDCDC; padding-left: 8px;\">");

				string getJSONSample = "<pre>$.getJSON(\n\t'" + context.Request.Url.LocalPath + "', \n\t{method: \"" + m.Name + "\", returntype: \"json\", args: {";
				foreach (var p in m.GetParameters())
				{
					getJSONSample += " " + p.Name + ": \"\",";
				}
				getJSONSample = getJSONSample.TrimEnd(',') + " ";
				getJSONSample += "}}, \n\tfunction() { alert('Success!'); });</pre>";
				sb.AppendLine(getJSONSample);

				sb.AppendLine("</td>");
				sb.AppendLine("</tr></table>");
			}
			return sb.ToString();
		}

	}
}