Adding generic handlers to a Sitecore project

Say for example we have the following requirements in a Sitecore project:

• Make AJAX calls from a Sitecore webpage
• Process AJAX request, then call external API accordingly
• Process response from API and return result back to Sitecore webpage.

There are a couple of ways to accomplish this:

• Webpage (ASPX)
  I have seen legacy projects using a webpage (ASPX) to do so but since there is no UI required, this is not necessary as there will be extra overhead from the page lifecycle events.
• MVC Controllers
  The most common technique will be to use MVC controllers but this can only be done if your project is already in MVC.
• Web API
  Using a Web API can also be another clean alternative, but what if you do not need that many files / new project for this? Just a simple file will be your preferred method.
• Generic Handlers (ASHX)
  In my opinion, this is the quickest no-frills way to accomplish the requirement.

In order to add custom generic handler to a Sitecore project:
(Assume sub-site is called ‘mysubsite’)

1. Create an item of ‘Generic Handler’ under your respective Sitecore project.
2. Declare your handler under <customHandlers> section in your respective ‘Include_xxxx.config’ file.

3. Declare your handler also in the <handlers> section in the web.config file.

4. Remember to also implement ‘IRequiresSessionState’ if you require Session information.

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