This is my first time ever using JSON as well as System.Net and the WebRequest in any of my applications. My application is supposed to send a JSON payload, similar to the one below to an authentication server:
{
"agent": {
"name": "Agent Name",
"version": 1
},
"username": "Username",
"password": "User Password",
"token": "xxxxxx"
}
To create this payload, I used the JSON.NET library. How would I send this data to the authentication server and receive its JSON response back? Here is what I have seen in some examples, but no JSON content:
var http = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(new Uri(baseUrl));
http.Accept = "application/json";
http.ContentType = "application/json";
http.Method = "POST";
string parsedContent = "Parsed JSON Content needs to go here";
ASCIIEncoding encoding = new ASCIIEncoding();
Byte[] bytes = encoding.GetBytes(parsedContent);
Stream newStream = http.GetRequestStream();
newStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length);
newStream.Close();
var response = http.GetResponse();
var stream = response.GetResponseStream();
var sr = new StreamReader(stream);
var content = sr.ReadToEnd();
However, this seems to be a lot of code compaired to using other languages I have used in the past. Am I doing this correctly? And how would I get the JSON response back so I can parse it?
Thanks, Elite.
Updated Code
// Send the POST Request to the Authentication Server
// Error Here
string json = await Task.Run(() => JsonConvert.SerializeObject(createLoginPayload(usernameTextBox.Text, password)));
var httpContent = new StringContent(json, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
using (var httpClient = new HttpClient())
{
// Error here
var httpResponse = await httpClient.PostAsync("URL HERE", httpContent);
if (httpResponse.Content != null)
{
// Error Here
var responseContent = await httpResponse.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
}
}
This question is related to
c#
.net
json
httpwebrequest
json.net
I found myself using the HttpClient library to query RESTful APIs as the code is very straightforward and fully async'ed.
(Edit: Adding JSON from question for clarity)
{
"agent": {
"name": "Agent Name",
"version": 1
},
"username": "Username",
"password": "User Password",
"token": "xxxxxx"
}
With two classes representing the JSON-Structure you posted that may look like this:
public class Credentials
{
[JsonProperty("agent")]
public Agent Agent { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("username")]
public string Username { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("password")]
public string Password { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("token")]
public string Token { get; set; }
}
public class Agent
{
[JsonProperty("name")]
public string Name { get; set; }
[JsonProperty("version")]
public int Version { get; set; }
}
you could have a method like this, which would do your POST request:
var payload = new Credentials {
Agent = new Agent {
Name = "Agent Name",
Version = 1
},
Username = "Username",
Password = "User Password",
Token = "xxxxx"
};
// Serialize our concrete class into a JSON String
var stringPayload = await Task.Run(() => JsonConvert.SerializeObject(payload));
// Wrap our JSON inside a StringContent which then can be used by the HttpClient class
var httpContent = new StringContent(stringPayload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
using (var httpClient = new HttpClient()) {
// Do the actual request and await the response
var httpResponse = await httpClient.PostAsync("http://localhost/api/path", httpContent);
// If the response contains content we want to read it!
if (httpResponse.Content != null) {
var responseContent = await httpResponse.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
// From here on you could deserialize the ResponseContent back again to a concrete C# type using Json.Net
}
}
Using the JSON.NET NuGet package and anonymous types, you can simplify what the other posters are suggesting:
// ...
string payload = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(new
{
agent = new
{
name = "Agent Name",
version = 1,
},
username = "username",
password = "password",
token = "xxxxx",
});
var client = new HttpClient();
var content = new StringContent(payload, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsync(uri, content);
// ...
You can also use the PostAsJsonAsync() method available in HttpClient()
var requestObj= JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);_x000D_
HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsJsonAsync($"endpoint",requestObj).ConfigureAwait(false);You can build your HttpContent using the combination of JObject to avoid and JProperty and then call ToString() on it when building the StringContent:
/*{
"agent": {
"name": "Agent Name",
"version": 1
},
"username": "Username",
"password": "User Password",
"token": "xxxxxx"
}*/
JObject payLoad = new JObject(
new JProperty("agent",
new JObject(
new JProperty("name", "Agent Name"),
new JProperty("version", 1)
),
new JProperty("username", "Username"),
new JProperty("password", "User Password"),
new JProperty("token", "xxxxxx")
)
);
using (HttpClient client = new HttpClient())
{
var httpContent = new StringContent(payLoad.ToString(), Encoding.UTF8, "application/json");
using (HttpResponseMessage response = await client.PostAsync(requestUri, httpContent))
{
response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode();
string responseBody = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
return JObject.Parse(responseBody);
}
}
Source: Stackoverflow.com