Send JSON via POST in C# and Receive the JSON returned?

Question

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

Answer 1

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);

// ...

Answer 2

You can also use the PostAsJsonAsync() method available in HttpClient()

   var requestObj= JsonConvert.SerializeObject(obj);
   HttpResponseMessage response = await    client.PostAsJsonAsync($"endpoint",requestObj).ConfigureAwait(false);

Answer 3

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
    }
}

Answer 4

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);
            }
        }