We Keep Coding

How to post data from C# to an ajax website?

I work in C# and so far I used WebRequest method to GET and POST data. I use Fiddler to check what is the browser doing and I got to a point where the data is retrieved from Ajax after posting some data.
I am not sure if I have to add to my project a javascript page or what and what code do I need in the javascript file and how to call it.
In essence, I have to post the data {"name":"ABCD"} to url www.example.com/Website.AJAX,Website.ashx.

Ajax is not so different from ordinary request, so you can just post it as usual. Most likely problem is how the backend treat that it is an ajax request (if it does at all).
As it looks like you are using the WebForms there on backend, you just need to add a special header most likely (X-Requested-With). Some frameworks add it, though it's not a real requirement of the ajax request.
All in all I would just post an ordinary request with WebRequest as you did before. If that does not work, you need to study the original request from web UI to see what is different. E.g. a special header or request Content-Type is JSON or something like that.
P.S. If you use JSON in the body it's better to explicitly set content type to application/json; charset=utf-8 unless there is something special with the server.

Error 406 Not Acceptable JSON

http://www.jfrog.com/confluence/display/RTF/Artifactory+REST+API#ArtifactoryRESTAPI-CreateorReplaceRepositoryConfiguration
I am using the Create or Replace Repository Configuration call. However I am getting a 406 Error: Not Acceptable. Other PUT calls are working but do not return JSON. I believe JSON is the source of the error but have not been able to resolve or prove this.
I have added the code as below
RestClient Client = new RestClient(uriString);
RestRequest Request = new RestRequest(requestType);
Request.AddHeader("Authorization", "Basic " + credentials);
Request.AddHeader("Accept", "application/json");
I've seen threads where adding the header to accept JSON resolves the error but this has not worked for me.

A 406 HTTP status means that if a web server detects that the data it wants to return is not acceptable to the client, it returns a header containing the 406 error code.
The client can define the characteristics of the data it will accept back from the web server by using the accept headers.
In this case you declare the you would like to accept application/json:
Request.AddHeader("Accept", "application/json");
however the REST API method you are invoking is returning text/plain.
You should change the code to accept text/plain:
Request.AddHeader("Accept", "text/plain");

Wanted to add this for for future users stuck like me. I was having the same issue and tried the request with Postman and saw that the Content-Type was "application/hal+json" I was trying it with application/json without luck.
So running a test in postman I was able to figure out what the server needed exactly.
client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.Add(new MediaTypeWithQualityHeaderValue("application/hal+json"));

I faced the same 406 Error: Not Acceptable when trying to get JSON on another site. In my case I could see correct JSON when typed url in my browser address field. But downloading it from the same url via my C# code have been producing 406 Error.
None of the answers in this topic solved my problem directly. But at least they pointed out to me that's the point is HTTP headers.
So I googled that page:
https://www.whatismybrowser.com/detect/what-http-headers-is-my-browser-sending
and added all browser headers to my code, and voila! It started to work.
In my case it was enough to fill some data in user-agent header.

First, the Accept header states what the client is ready to get back, not what the client sends.
The header that states what the client sends is Content-Type.
Also, this method does not accept application/json. As clearly stated in the docs, it accepts one of the following:
application/vnd.org.jfrog.artifactory.repositories.LocalRepositoryConfiguration+json
application/vnd.org.jfrog.artifactory.repositories.RemoteRepositoryConfiguration+json
application/vnd.org.jfrog.artifactory.repositories.VirtualRepositoryConfiguration+json

Pass data to a URL on a different web server without the QueryString

I've got an .ashx handler which, upon finishing processing will redirect to a success or error page, based on how the processing went. The handler is in my site, but the success or error pages might not be (this is something the user can configure).
Is there any way that I can pass the error details to the error page without putting it in the query string?
I've tried:
Adding a custom header that contains the error details, but since I'm using a Response.Redirect, the headers get cleared
Using Server.Transfer, instead of Response.Redirect, but this will not work for URLs not in my site
I know that I can pass data in the query string, but in some cases the data I need to pass might be too long for the query string. Do I have any other options?

Essentially, no. The only way to pass additional data in a GET request (i.e. a redirect) is to pass it in the query string.
The important thing to realise is that this is not a limitation of WebForms, this is just how HTTP works. If you're redirecting to another page that's outside of your site (and thus don't have the option of cookies/session data), you're going to have to send information directly in the request and that means using a query string.
Things like Server.Transfer and Response.Redirect are just abstractions over a simple HTTP request; no framework feature can defy how HTTP actually works.
You do, of course, have all kinds of options as to what you pass in the query string, but you're going to have to pass something. If you really want to shorten the URL, maybe you can pass an error code and expose an API that will let the receiving page fetch further information:
Store transaction information (or detailed error messages) in a database with an ID.
Pass the ID in the query string.
Expose a web method or similar API to allow the receiving page to request additional information.
There are plenty of hacky ways you could create the illusion of passing data in a redirect outside of a form post (such as returning a page containing a form and Javascript to immediately do a cross-domain form post) but the query string is the proper way of passing data in a GET request, so why try to hack around it?

If you must perform a redirect, you will need to pass some kind of information in the Query String, because that's how browser redirects work. You can be creative about how you pass it, though.
You could pass an error code, and have the consuming system know what various error codes mean.
You could pass a token, and have the consuming system know how to ask your system about the error information for the given token behind-the-scenes.
Also, if you have any flexibility around whether it's actually performing a redirect, you could use an AJAX request in the first place, and send back some kind of JSON object that the browser's javascript could interpret and send via a POST parameter or something like that.

A redirect is executed by most browsers as a GET, which means you'd have to put the data in the query string.
One trick (posted in two other answers) to do a "redirect" as a POST is to turn the response into a form that POSTs itself to the target site:
Response.Clear();
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.Append("<html>");
sb.AppendFormat(#"<body onload='document.forms[""form""].submit()'>");
sb.AppendFormat("<form name='form' action='{0}' method='post'>",postbackUrl);
<!-- POST values go here -->
sb.AppendFormat("<input type='hidden' name='id' value='{0}'>", id);
sb.Append("</form>");
sb.Append("</body>");
sb.Append("</html>");
Response.Write(sb.ToString());
Response.End();
But I would read the comments on both to understand the limitations.

Basically there are two usual HTTP ways to send some data - GET and POST.
When you redirect to another URL with additional parameters, you make the client browser to send the GET request to the target server. Technically, your server responds to the browser with specific HTTP error code 307 + the URL to go (including the GET parameters).
Alternatively, you may want/need to make a POST request to the target URL. In that case you should respond with a simple HTML form, which consists of several hidden fields pre-filled with certain values. The form's action should point the target URL, method should be "POST", and of course your HTML should include javascript, which automatically submits the form once the document is loaded. This way the client browser would send the POST request instead of the GET one.

How to get original google shortened URL after it's been resolved

So I have a google shortened Url, and once I click on it and hit my controller, I want to be able to see what the original goo.gl url was before it got resolved. How on earth do I do this?
I've tried Request.UrlReferrer.AboluteUri and System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.AbsoluteUri but neither seem to work. They all simply return the resolved absolute uri. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Here's an example of the shortened URL - http://goo.gl/WSrJ6
This would then take the user (in testing at least) to localhost:81/college/events/details/23
So basically, when I hit the Details Controller, how do I get the original shortened url back?

Ok, this feels like more of a workaround but...
I don't see any way to resolve the shortened url from the goog.gl service. However, you could send a web request to goog.gl that only uses the HEAD HTTP verb using the shortened url.
Then, in the response to the HEAD request, the location header will be the original url (because it will send back a redirect request 301).
You can check out the response by using this tool. Put in your shortened url and then choose the HEAD verb before posting.

https://developers.google.com/url-shortener/v1/getting_started
You do a get request with the following url and you get a Json with the long url
https://www.googleapis.com/urlshortener/v1/url?shortUrl=http://goo.gl/WSrJ6

Any normally configured browser sends the header HTTP_REFERER.
Doesn't a simple Request.UrlReferrer work? Or, something like HttpContext.Current.Request.ServerVariables["HTTP_REFERER"] or ServerVariables["HTTP_REFERER"]?
That, depending on where you are coding, but the point is to grab the header from the request.
HTTP_REFERER should always contain the previous (referer) url. I don't see why you're getting the resolved url there, unless it's a second redirection (e.g. your shortener pointed to http://server.com and your web server is configured to redirect missing www to http://www.server.com).
HTH
Francisco

c# app: Is it possible to implement a JSON interface?

I've built a simple C# app (.Net 4.0 + WPF) which can send and receive JSON messages via TCP sockets.
As a next step, it should be possible that JavaScript apps on websites and PHP scripts can send and receive JSON messages to/from my app. Is that possible?
Since JS/PHP will use stateless HTTP connections, how should a request to my app work, for example, should the JS/PHP apps send a JSON message to my app and my app response (HTTP response) with a JSON message? Is that even possible? And should I use GET or POST method to send the JSON messages to/from my app?
Hope my questions do not cause too much confusion ;-) I but I appreciate every tip, clarification or feedback you can give me.
Mike

You can accomplish this via a .NET web service using special JSON directives on the web method, e.g.
[ScriptMethod(UseHttpGet = true, ResponseFormat=ResponseFormat.Json)]
public string DoSomething(string param1, int param2)
{
// Do Something
}
When the ResponseFormat.Json property is specified, the data returned will be serialized into the appropriate JSON format. Also note, in order to recieve a true JSON response, you'll need to set your content-type to "application/json" from the requesting application. Otherwise, the method will attempt to wrap the response in XML.
Also, I am enabling a HttpGet on this method so that you can post via a query string to the method, e.g.
http://www.example.com/service.asmx?param1='Hello'&param2=1;