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Provide Credentials for BackgroundTransferRequest (WP8)

When I am using HttpWebRequest I use the following code to set the Credentials
HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(urlToCall);
request.Method = "GET";
request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, pass);
How do I do the same when I am using BackgroundTransferService in Windows Phone 8.
For reference I am using the following.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/hh202955%28v=vs.105%29.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/hh202959%28v=vs.105%29.aspx
*Edit:
The authentication method is Digest
This is what I get in the Authorization Header when I use my browser to download the file.
Digest username="adf", realm="bcd", nonce="XXXXXXXXX", uri="/ans/1268e52399.txt", algorithm=MD5, response="XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", qop=auth, nc=00000001, cnonce="XXXXXXXXXXXX"

Unfortunately this isn't supported on the BackgroundTranserService. One possible solution might be to manually create a header for your request like below:
var credentials = new UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(username + ":" +password);
var transferRequest = new BackgroundTransferRequest(transferUri);
transferRequest.Headers["Authorization"] ="Basic " + convert.ToBase64String(credentials);
Unfortunately I'm unable to test this at the minute, give it a try and let me know how you get on.

asp.net authentication problems basic/windows

I am looking at an intranet site (not developed by me) and it has basic authentication enabled.
It needs to be changed to Windows authentication and I have done just that in IIS.
Basically I have installed the Visual Studio 2010 Remote debugger to check why it works fine using basic auth but when changed to Windows it doesn't.
It hangs on the first line on the try, on error 401 unauthorized:
oReq.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
oReq.Method = "POST";
// Set the script timeout to a desired value. Timeout value is specified in milliseconds.
oReq.Timeout = 60000;
WindowsIdentity wId = (WindowsIdentity)HttpContext.Current.User.Identity;
WindowsIdentity wIdb4 = WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent();
string name = wIdb4.Name;
WindowsImpersonationContext wIdCon = wId.Impersonate();
// Set credentials to use for this request.
oReq.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultNetworkCredentials;
Stream oDataStream = oReq.GetRequestStream();
// Use EncodeParam to enocde the parameters passed in the URL
String sParam = "...";
UTF8Encoding encoding = new UTF8Encoding();
Byte[] Buffer = encoding.GetBytes(sParam);
oDataStream.Write(Buffer, 0, Buffer.Length);
oDataStream.Close();
try
{
HttpWebResponse oResp = (HttpWebResponse)oReq.GetResponse();
....
}
Makes no sense, how come it gets pased it with basic auth and not with Windows?
Also when I run the site on the local machine asp.net server, it works fine.

pass string from C# Windows Form Application to php webpage

How can I pass some data to a webpage from C#.net? I'm currently using this:
ProcessStartInfo p1 = new ProcessStartInfo("http://www.example.com","key=123");
Process.Start(p1);
but how can I access it from PHP? I tried:
<?php echo($_GET['key']); ?>
but it prints nothing.

Try passing it with the url itself
ProcessStartInfo p1 = new ProcessStartInfo("http://timepass.comule.com?key=123","");
Process.Start(p1);

you should put the key parameter as a query string :
ProcessStartInfo p1 = new ProcessStartInfo("http://timepass.comule.com?key=123");

I would suggest using the HttpWebRequestClass.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.httpwebrequest.aspx
This way, you would also have the ability to post data to your page, add auth parameters, cookies etc - in case you might need it.
I'm not sure if this matters in your particular setup, passing data thru the query string is not secure. But if security is an issue as well, I would POST the data thru an SSL connection.
Update:
so if you POST'ed data to your php page like so:
string dataToSend = "data=" + HttpUtility.UrlEncode("this is your data string");
var dataBytes = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(dataToSend);
HttpWebRequest req = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create("http://localhost/yourpage.php");
req.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
req.ContentLength = dataBytes.Length;
req.Method = "POST";
using (var stream = req.GetRequestStream())
{
stream.Write(dataBytes, 0, dataBytes.Length);
}
// -- execute request and get response
HttpWebResponse resp = (HttpWebResponse) req.GetResponse();
if (resp.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.OK)
Console.WriteLine("Hooray!");
you can retrieve it by using the following code in your php page:
echo $_POST["data"])
Update 2:
AFAIK, ProcessStartInfo/Process.Start() actually starts a process - in this case, I think it will start your browser. The second parameter is the command line arguments. This information is used by programs so they know how to behave when started (hidden, open a default document etc). Its not related to the Query string in anyway. if you prefer to use Process.Start(), then try something like this:
ProcessStartInfo p1 = new ProcessStartInfo("iexplore","http://google.com?q=test");
Process.Start(p1);
If you run that, it will open internet explorer and open google with test on the search box. If that were you're page, you could access "q" by calling:
echo $_GET["q"])

In my applications i used different method i.e using webClient i done it
WebClient client1 = new WebClient();
string path = "dtscompleted.php";//your php path
NameValueCollection formData = new NameValueCollection();
byte[] responseBytes2=null;
formData.Add("key", "123");
try
{
responseBytes2 = client1.UploadValues(path, "POST", formData);
}
catch (WebException web)
{
//MessageBox.Show("Check network connection.\n"+web.Message);
}

Why my Http client making 2 requests when I specify credentials?

I created RESTful webservice (WCF) where I check credentials on each request. One of my clients is Android app and everything seems to be great on server side. I get request and if it's got proper header - I process it, etc..
Now I created client app that uses this service. This is how I do GET:
// Create the web request
var request = WebRequest.Create(Context.ServiceURL + uri) as HttpWebRequest;
if (request != null)
{
request.ContentType = "application/json";
// Add authentication to request
request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(Context.UserName, Context.Password);
// Get response
using (var response = request.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse)
{
// Get the response stream
if (response != null)
{
var reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream());
// Console application output
var s = reader.ReadToEnd();
var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
var returnValue = (T)serializer.Deserialize(s, typeof(T));
return returnValue;
}
}
}
So, this code get's my resource and deserializes it. As you see - I'm passing credentials in my call.
Then when debugging on server-side I noticed that I get 2 requests every time - one without authentication header and then server sends back response and second request comes bach with credentials. I think it's bad for my server - I'd rather don't make any roundtrips. How should I change client so it doesn't happen? See screenshot of Fiddler
EDIT:
This is JAVA code I use from Android - it doesn't do double-call:
MyHttpResponse response = new MyHttpResponse();
HttpClient client = mMyApplication.getHttpClient();
try
{
HttpGet request = new HttpGet(serviceURL + url);
request.setHeader(new BasicHeader(HTTP.CONTENT_TYPE, "application/json"));
request.addHeader("Authorization", "Basic " + Preferences.getAuthorizationTicket(mContext));
ResponseHandler<String> handler = new BasicResponseHandler();
response.Body = client.execute(request, handler);
response.Code = HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK;
response.Message = "OK";
}
catch (HttpResponseException e)
{
response.Code = e.getStatusCode();
response.Message = e.getMessage();
LogData.InsertError(mContext, e);
}

The initial request doesn't ever specify the basic header for authentication. Additionally, since a realm is specified, you have to get that from the server. So you have to ask once: "hey, I need this stuff" and the server goes "who are you? the realm of answering is 'secure area'." (because realm means something here) Just because you added it here:
request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(Context.UserName, Context.Password);
doesn't mean that it's going to be for sure attached everytime to the request.
Then you respond with the username/password (in this case you're doing BASIC so it's base64 encoded as name:password) and the server decodes it and says "ok, you're all clear, here's your data".
This is going to happen on a regular basis, and there's not a lot you can do about it. I would suggest that you also turn on HTTPS since the authentication is happening in plain text over the internet. (actually what you show seems to be over the intranet, but if you do go over the internet make it https).
Here's a link to Wikipedia that might help you further: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_access_authentication

Ok, I got it. I manually set HttpHeader instead of using request.Credentials
request.Headers.Add(HttpRequestHeader.Authorization, "Basic " + Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(Context.UserName + ":" + Context.Password)));
Now I see only single requests as expected..

As an option you can use PreAuthenticate property of HttpClientHandler. This would require a couple of lines more
var client = new HttpClient(new HttpClientHandler
{
Credentials = yourCredentials,
PreAuthenticate = true
});
With using this approach, only the first request is sent without credentials, but all the rest requests are OK.

getting this error: "The remote server returned an error: (422) Unprocessable Entity." when doing post from C# to RoR

This code is for an outlook plugin. We're trying to POST to a page and are getting this error:
The remote server returned an error: (422) Unprocessable Entity.
The C# code is here:
webClient.Headers.Add("Content-Type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
ASCIIEncoding asciiEncoding = new System.Text.ASCIIEncoding();
Byte[] postData = asciiEncoding.GetBytes("email=e2#email.com&password=hunter2");
char[] resultHTML = asciiEncoding.GetChars(webClient.UploadData("http://url", "POST", postData));
string convertedResultHTML = new string(resultHTML);
Any idea what could be causing this?

POST data must be encoded prior to be sent out on the wire as ASCII, if you are sending character not in the ASCII range. You should try something like:
Byte[] postData = asciiEncoding.GetBytes(HttpUtility.UrlEncode("email=e2#email.com&password=hunter2"));

Because of its limited functionality, I avoid using WebClient and use WebRequest instead. The code below:
does not expect an HTTP 100 status code to be returned,
creates a CookieContainer to store any cookies we pick up,
sets the Content Length header, and
UrlEncodes each value in the post data.
Give the following a try and see if it works for you.
System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = false;
System.Net.CookieContainer cookies = new System.Net.CookieContainer();
// this first request just ensures we have a session cookie, if one exists
System.Net.WebRequest req = System.Net.WebRequest.Create("http://localhost/test.aspx");
((System.Net.HttpWebRequest)req).CookieContainer = cookies;
req.GetResponse().Close();
// this request submits the data to the server
req = System.Net.WebRequest.Create("http://localhost/test.aspx");
req.ContentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
req.Method = "POST";
((System.Net.HttpWebRequest)req).CookieContainer = cookies;
string parms = string.Format("email={0}&password={1}",
System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode("e2#email.com"),
System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlEncode("hunter2"));
byte[] bytes = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(parms);
req.ContentLength = bytes.Length;
// perform the POST
using (System.IO.Stream os = req.GetRequestStream())
{
os.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
}
// read the response
string response;
using (System.Net.WebResponse resp = req.GetResponse())
{
if (resp == null) return;
using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(resp.GetResponseStream()))
{
response = sr.ReadToEnd().Trim();
}
}
// the variable response holds the results of the request...
Credits: Hanselman, Simon (SO Question)

This is the RoR application telling you that you have not formed a request that it can handle; the destination script exists (otherwise you'd see a 404), the request is being handled (otherwise you'd get a 400 error) and it's been encoded correctly (or you'd get a 415 error) but the actual instruction can't be carried out.
Looking at it, you seem to be loading some email information. The RoR application could be telling you that the username and password is wrong, or that the user doesn't exist, or something else. It's up to the RoR application itself.
I think the code itself is good; it's just that the app at the other end isn't happy about doing what you ask it. Are you missing something else in the request information, like a command? (eg command=getnetemails&email=e2#email.com&password=hunter2) Are you sure the email/password combination you are passing is good?
see here for more on the 422 error.

Add the below line above your code.
System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = false;
Are you trying to access an authentication required page?

it was solved by returning xml instead of just unstructured text on the RoR side