How do I make calls to a REST API using C#?

466

This is the code I have so far:

    public class Class1
    {
        private const string URL = "https://sub.domain.com/objects.json?api_key=123";
        private const string DATA = @"{""object"":{""name"":""Name""}}";

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Class1.CreateObject();
        }

        private static void CreateObject()
        {
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(URL);
            request.Method = "POST";
            request.ContentType = "application/json";
            request.ContentLength = DATA.Length;
            StreamWriter requestWriter = new StreamWriter(request.GetRequestStream(), System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
            requestWriter.Write(DATA);
            requestWriter.Close();

             try {
                WebResponse webResponse = request.GetResponse();
                Stream webStream = webResponse.GetResponseStream();
                StreamReader responseReader = new StreamReader(webStream);
                string response = responseReader.ReadToEnd();
                Console.Out.WriteLine(response);
                responseReader.Close();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                Console.Out.WriteLine("-----------------");
                Console.Out.WriteLine(e.Message);
            }

        }
    }

The problem is that I think the exception block is being triggered (because when I remove the try-catch, I get a server error (500) message. But I don't see the Console.Out lines I put in the catch block.

My Console:

The thread 'vshost.NotifyLoad' (0x1a20) has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread '<No Name>' (0x1988) has exited with code 0 (0x0).
The thread 'vshost.LoadReference' (0x1710) has exited with code 0 (0x0).
'ConsoleApplication1.vshost.exe'

1 Answer

150

My suggestion would be to use RestSharp. You can make calls to REST services and have them cast into POCO objects with very little boilerplate code to actually have to parse through the response. This will not solve your particular error, but it answers your overall question of how to make calls to REST services. Having to change your code to use it should pay off in the ease of use and robustness moving forward. That is just my two cents though.

Example:

namespace RestSharpThingy
{
    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.IO;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Net;
    using System.Reflection;
    using RestSharp;

    public static class Program
    {
        public static void Main()
        {
            Uri baseUrl = new Uri("https://httpbin.org/");
            IRestClient client = new RestClient(baseUrl);
            IRestRequest request = new RestRequest("get", Method.GET) { Credentials = new NetworkCredential("testUser", "P455w0rd") };

            request.AddHeader("Authorization", "Bearer qaPmk9Vw8o7r7UOiX-3b-8Z_6r3w0Iu2pecwJ3x7CngjPp2fN3c61Q_5VU3y0rc-vPpkTKuaOI2eRs3bMyA5ucKKzY1thMFoM0wjnReEYeMGyq3JfZ-OIko1if3NmIj79ZSpNotLL2734ts2jGBjw8-uUgKet7jQAaq-qf5aIDwzUo0bnGosEj_UkFxiJKXPPlF2L4iNJSlBqRYrhw08RK1SzB4tf18Airb80WVy1Kewx2NGq5zCC-SCzvJW-mlOtjIDBAQ5intqaRkwRaSyjJ_MagxJF_CLc4BNUYC3hC2ejQDoTE6HYMWMcg0mbyWghMFpOw3gqyfAGjr6LPJcIly__aJ5__iyt-BTkOnMpDAZLTjzx4qDHMPWeND-TlzKWXjVb5yMv5Q6Jg6UmETWbuxyTdvGTJFzanUg1HWzPr7gSs6GLEv9VDTMiC8a5sNcGyLcHBIJo8mErrZrIssHvbT8ZUPWtyJaujKvdgazqsrad9CO3iRsZWQJ3lpvdQwucCsyjoRVoj_mXYhz3JK3wfOjLff16Gy1NLbj4gmOhBBRb8rJnUXnP7rBHs00FAk59BIpKLIPIyMgYBApDCut8V55AgXtGs4MgFFiJKbuaKxq8cdMYEVBTzDJ-S1IR5d6eiTGusD5aFlUkAs9NV_nFw");
            request.AddParameter("clientId", 123);


                        
                        
                            answered 2012-03-08T15:40:08.130

How do I make calls to a REST API using C#?

1 Answer

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