Posting data with FormUrlEncoded OR Json in web api - c#

I have created generic method from which we are posting data to web apis. And while making posting I am serializing the data to json. Below is my generic method.
public HttpResponseMessage GetData<T>(T parm, string url) where T : class
{
try
{
var client = new HttpClient();
var result = client.PostAsync(url, SerializeData<T>(parm));
result.Wait();
if (result.Result.IsSuccessStatusCode)
{
// Do something
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
return default(HttpResponseMessage);
}
private StringContent SerializeData<T>(T obj)
{
string mediaType = "application/json";
string content = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj, formatter);
return new StringContent(content, Encoding.UTF8, mediaType);
}
This work fine if I pass the class object from the caller method Like
var result = service.GetData<MyClass>(myclassobj,url);
However, for some urls by passing the class object is not working. So, we have written another method where we posting the data in FormUrlEncodedContent format like below and it works fine.
var Parameters = new Dictionary<string, string> { { "Key1", "some value" }, { "Key2", "another value" } };
var EncodedContent = new FormUrlEncodedContent(Parameters);
var postTask = _client.PostAsync(url, EncodedContent);
I have tried to send FormUrlEncoded data to JSON method and by changing the Media Type also. But not able to properly serialized it. The apis/services we are consuming are from third party providers.
So my question is what changes are needed in the method which will work with all formats Like JSON, FormUrlEncodedContent etc.
Also, does it depend on how apis are written to which they will work only with specific formats like JSON, FormUrlEncodedContent etc.
Basically I am trying to keep one generic method which will support all formats.
Any help on this appreciated !

Related

Can you serialize ByteArrayContent in a JSON that translates to C# object?

I have written a C# Web API in VS Studio and have created numerous DTO's that get serialized into JSON entities which any client can consume. One of my API calls is to return a PDF file, so after some online research, I set up one of the DTO's is set up in the following format. I read somewhere you can do this, but not 100% sure:
public class MyCustomResult
{
public bool Success;
public DateTime? LastRunDate;
public string ErrorCode;
public string Message;
public ByteArrayContent ReportBody;
}
I do not get any errors when return the object as an IHttpActionResult:
return Ok(result);
I can see on the server that the ByteSize of the report byte[] is approx 700K. However, when I retrieve the object on the client, the JSON entity is approx 400B and no byte content in the ByteContentStream. When I run the query in Postman, I get an empty Header, so it appears that the ByteContentStream can't be serialized by Newtonsoft JSON.
Are there any options I should consider?
Here is a scenario where you'd use ByteArrayContent:
using(var req = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, new Uri("https://example.com"))
{
req.Content = new ByteArrayContent(...);
using(var resp = await _client.SendAsync(req))
{
var data = await resp.Content.ReadAsAsync<object>();
}
}
What you'd want to do is this:
public class MyCustomResult
{
public bool Success;
public DateTime? LastRunDate;
public string ErrorCode;
public string Message;
public byte[] ReportBody; // <-- change this to byte[]
}
var dataToSend = new MyCustomResult(); // fill this in
using(var req = new HttpRequestMessage(HttpMethod.Post, new Uri("https://example.com"))
{
req.Content = new StringContent(
JsonConvert.SerializeObject(dataToSend, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json"));
using(var resp = await _client.SendAsync(req))
{
var data = await resp.Content.ReadAsAsync<object>();
}
}
(note: this code is not tested)
So what will happen is SerializeObject will convert that byte array into a Base64 string then send it.
The consumer would then have to decode that Base64 string. If it's another Newtonsoft.Json client and the model definitions match, then it will automatically decode it for you.
I understand you are doing an API endpoint. The above examples are to show the use of ByteArrayContent and why it exists in .NET. How you are returning data is correct: return Ok(response); as long as you fix your model.
So to sum it up:
ByteArrayContent is an implementation of HttpContent which is supposed to be used as a response body only. It's not to be used in conjunction with a JSON response.

415 Unsupported Media Type Error being returned when posting to API through C# class

I am trying to write a class that will post a json object to an API. If I post the following through Postman (passing it as raw json), the API responds with a 200:
[{"Id":"1","Name":"First of Two","obdOdometer":{"Time":"2020-01-01","Value":"112233"}},{"Id":"2","Name":"Second of Two","obdOdometer":{"Time":"2020-02-03","Value":"45506"}}]
However, I am getting errors when using my class.
Here is the class I am trying to use:
public async Task TransmitobdOdometer(string json)
{
string bearerToken = _config.GetSection("PilotTmwApiSettings:BearerToken").Value;
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", bearerToken);
var res = client.PostAsync("https://localhost:44308/TestDev", new StringContent(Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject( new { json } )));
try
{
res.Result.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
}
}
}
The string being passed into TransmitobdOdometer() is formatted like so:
string odometerValues = "[{\"Id\":\"1\",\"Name\":\"First of Two\",\"obdOdometer\":{\"Time\":\"2020-01-01\",\"Value\":\"112233\"}},{\"Id\":\"2\",\"Name\":\"Second of Two\",\"obdOdometer\":{\"Time\":\"2020-02-03\",\"Value\":\"45506\"}}]";
This returns the error message: "Response status code does not indicate success: 415 (Unsupported Media Type)." I tried adjusting the format of the string being passed in, but I get the same error, so I figured I'd ask for insight into what I may be doing wrong before proceeding further.
Changing the line to
var res = client.PostAsync("localhost:44308/TestDev", new StringContent(Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.SerializeObject( new { json } ), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json"));
... fixed the error 415. I am still getting an error, but will move that to a new discussion.

preparing Json Object for HttpClient Post method

I am trying to prepare a JSON payload to a Post method. The server fails unable to parse my data. ToString() method on my values would not convert it to JSON correctly, can you please suggest a correct way of doing this.
var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{
"type", "a"
}
, {
"card", "2"
}
};
var data = new StringContent(values.ToSttring(), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
var response = client.PostAsync(myUrl, data).Result;
using (HttpContent content = response.content)
{
result = response.content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
}
You need to either manually serialize the object first using JsonConvert.SerializeObject
var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{"type", "a"}, {"card", "2"}
};
var json = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(values);
var data = new StringContent(json, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
//...code removed for brevity
Or depending on your platform, use the PostAsJsonAsync extension method on HttpClient.
var values = new Dictionary<string, string>
{
{"type", "a"}, {"card", "2"}
};
var client = new HttpClient();
using(var response = client.PostAsJsonAsync(myUrl, values).Result) {
result = response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result;
}
https://www.newtonsoft.com/json use this.
there are already a lot of similar topics.
Send JSON via POST in C# and Receive the JSON returned?
values.ToString() will not create a valid JSON formatted string.
I'd recommend you use a JSON parser, such as Json.Net or LitJson to convert your Dictionary into a valid json string. These libraries are capable of converting generic objects into valid JSON strings using reflection, and will be faster than manually serialising into the JSON format (although this is possible if required).
Please see here for the JSON string format definition (if you wish to manually serialise the objects), and for a list of 3rd party libraries at the bottom: http://www.json.org/

Disable ModelBinder in .NetCore

HeyGuys
I'm working on a WebApi project that receives requests from clients and redirects these requests to other services that are not open for direct access.
By default, .Net serializes and deserializes the Json request parameters automatically, so I need to re-serialize them before calling the appropriate service. The same problem occurs when receiving the service response. I need to deserialize it before sending the response to the user; otherwise .Net framework will serialize it one more time, resulting in a "Json of Json" response.
I found this answer but it does not seem to work with .NetCore; so I tried to create my own ModelBinder that just reads the Json object and returns it.
class JsonUnformatterBinderProvider : Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ModelBinding.IModelBinderProvider
{
public IModelBinder GetBinder(ModelBinderProviderContext context)
{
return new JsonUnformatterBinder(new SimpleTypeModelBinder(context.Metadata.ModelType));
}
}
and
class JsonUnformatterBinder : IModelBinder
{
private readonly IModelBinder _fallbackBinder;
public JsonUnformatterBinder(IModelBinder fallbackBinder)
{
_fallbackBinder = fallbackBinder;
}
public Task BindModelAsync(ModelBindingContext bindingContext)
{
string currMethod = bindingContext.ActionContext.HttpContext.Request.Method;
if ("POST".Equals(currMethod) || "PUT".Equals(currMethod))
{
string strData = new StreamReader(bindingContext.ActionContext.HttpContext.Request.Body).ReadToEnd();
bindingContext.Result = ModelBindingResult.Success(strData);
return Task.CompletedTask;
}
return _fallbackBinder.BindModelAsync(bindingContext);
}
}
This code is very simple, it was my first attempt and it worked well for my purposes. However, I still get the "Json of Json" problem when I take the second service answer and returns back to the user.
I basically have no idea what I can do to overcome this, so any workaround is welcome here.
If you need just redirect a request without modification, you could read it from input stream directly and send it to inner service. You could also use such approach to read responce from inner service.
//1. Set empty parameter list in action then neither serializator nor model binder are not invoked.
public async Task<ContentResult> ProxyAction(/*empty parameter list*/)
{
var newUrl = #"https://stackoverflow.com";
var data = this.Request.Body;
using (var client = new HttpClient())
{
//2. Read request body from input stream.
var reader = new StreamReader(data);
var json = reader.ReadToEnd();
using (var content = new StringContent(json))
{
//3. Set correct content type
content.Headers.ContentType = new System.Net.Http.Headers.MediaTypeHeaderValue(this.Request.ContentType);
//4. Post request to inner service
var response = await client.PostAsync(newUrl, content);
//5. Read response without deserialization
var innerResponse = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
var contentType = response.Content.Headers.ContentType.ToString();
var statusCode = response.StatusCode;
//6. Return inner response without serialization
var outerResponse = this.Content(innerResponse, contentType);
outerResponse.StatusCode = (int)statusCode;
return outerResponse;
}
}
}

C# how to not serialize an already serialized string with Content

So I have built an REST API that in itself also consumes another API. Now I could just call the other api, create objects from that call and then make a new request and send it on it's way but that would use up a bit of performance.
I tried just sending the second request again but the problem is that Content serializes it again so I get alot of backslashes. This is my code that does this:
[Route("")]
public IHttpActionResult GetAllDevices()
{
var request = new RestRequest();
request = new RestRequest("devices", Method.GET);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
return Content(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.Content);//response.Content get's serialized again.
}
As I said, I could deserialized the first call and then just put that in Content, but it feels unnecessary.
Here is one way of doing it, remember to set the content-type explicitly to application/json if needed:
[HttpGet]
[Route("test")]
public HttpResponseMessage Test()
{
const string json = "{ \"test\": 123 }"; // from RestClient
var res = Request.CreateResponse();
res.Content = new StringContent(json);
res.Content.Headers.ContentType = MediaTypeHeaderValue.Parse("application/json");
return res;
}

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