What is the difference between inter-sequential components and filters in application architecture?

Intermediary components (middleware) and filters are mechanisms for processing requests and responses in application architecture, but they differ in purpose and application.

Intermediary components (middleware) are software modules that are placed in the request processing pipeline and can perform various tasks: authentication, logging, error handling, routing, etc. They are usually invoked sequentially and can modify or interrupt the processing flow.

Filters are more specialized components used for processing requests and responses at the controller or action level (for example, in MVC). Filters can perform tasks before and after the execution of an action, such as access rights verification, caching, validation.

Example in ASP.NET Core:

// Middleware
app.Use(async (context, next) => {
    // Logging request
    Console.WriteLine($"Request: {context.Request.Path}");
    await next();
    // Logging response
    Console.WriteLine($"Response: {context.Response.StatusCode}");
});

// Filter
public class AuthorizationFilter : IActionFilter
{
    public void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext context)
    {
        // Access rights check
    }
    public void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext context) { }
}

Thus, middleware operates at the level of the entire request processing pipeline, while filters operate at the level of specific actions or controllers.